The library of the Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society

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FELIX FABRI

(Circa 1480 — 1483 a.d.)

VOL. I.
(PART II.)

'U^ r ;t n 6 Li t c b

BY

AUBREY STEWART, M.A

LONDON:
24, HANOVER SQUARE, W.

iSg6.

101

v.2>

BROTHER FELIX FABRT. 321

there ? the setting free of her Son from the hands of the
Jews ? or what else ? To him the Virgin would answer :
* I know that my Son is so clever and eloquent, that were
He brought before a common judge He could gain an
acquittal and be set free, yet withal He is gentle and
harmless and silent, even as a lamb before the shearer,
and will not open His mouth in His own defence. More-
over He is so sweet and lovable that I have good hope
that they will have compassion on Him, and that He will
be given back to me. Wherefore I stand here full of
anxiety, that I may see the end, and whither He will be
led; if to life, I will live with Him ; if to death, I will go
forth and die with Him.' Devout men say also that Peter,
after he had denied his Lord, as he came out of the house
sobbing and weeping, came to that corner, and through
shame and grief he could not speak to the Virgin, nor
could the Virgin speak to him, and so he ran on to the
cave whereof I have spoken before. We kissed this corner
and received indulgences (f).

THE PLACE WHERE THE APOSTLE ST. JAMES THE GREAT
WAS BEHEADED BY HEROD AGRIPPA.

At the aforesaid corner we turned our backs to the
church of Sion, and went down a long street leading west-
ward, through many ruins of great walls, and we again
came to a house which, like the last, is also a monastery.
We knocked, and were let in, and entering the church
we bowed ourselves to the earth in prayer. Then the
priests of the church came to us and led us to a chapel on
the left side of the church, which was the place (b) where
Herod Agrippa beheaded the Apostle St. James the Great,
the brother of John, as we read in the twelfth chapter cf
the Acts. This was James the Great^ the brother of John,

21

323 ^HE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

the kinsman of Christ, the third of the Apostles in the
order of their calling, the secretary of our Lord, the first of
the Apostles to be martyred, whose body was carried by
his disciples to the sea at Joppa, from which place they
were miraculously wafted across the sea to Compostella,
where at this day it is visited by all Christ's faithful
people. In this place we recited antiphons and the rest of
the appointed service, and received indulgences (-j-). This
church is great and lofty, insomuch that it overtops every
other church which is in Jerusalem, and is seen before
them, for the first thing which one sees is the dome of this
church. It has no windows, but light comes through an
opening in the top, and fills the church. There are many
chapels round about it, which are now ruined and dese-
crated. In the church itself hang many lamps, and in the
midst there hang a hundred and twenty lamps in one
chandelier. All the Easterns have many lamps in their
churches, so that the vaults of the roofs are full of ropes
and chains. In the wall of this church, on the outside, is
an opening, or blind window, or closet, in which lie two
great round stones, which were brought from Mount Sinai,
and they say that angels brought them to the Virgin for her
spiritual consolation, to the end that, as it was not fitting
that the Virgin should make so long a pilgrimage, or
should leave Jerusalem, she might nevertheless worship the
holy Mount Sinai in these stones. This is a cathedral
church, and has an archbishop and canons of the Armenian
rite : howbeit, they are called Jacobites, and owe allegiance
to the Church of Rome. The Archbishop is a grave man,
handsome and reverend to behold, and we would fain have
conversed with him, but could not understand one another's
language. These Jacobites are not such dark-skinned men
as the other Eastern Christians.

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 323

THE PLACE WHERE CHRIST, WHEN HE WAS RISEN FROM
THE DEAD, MET THE WOMEN, SAYING, * ALL HAIL !'
When we had seen the things aforesaid we came out of
that monastery and went further along the street, and on
our way we came to a place where a great stone is set up
in the public road. This stone was thus set up by the
Christians of old on that spot, because at that place on
that road the Lord appeared to the three Maries when
they were coming back from the sepulchre, saying, ' All
hail !' and they came and held Him by the feet, and
worshipped Him, as we read in the twenty-eighth chapter
of St. Matthew's Gospel. So here we bowed ourselves to
the earth, and kissed the place which Christ's feet had
trod, and the stone, and received indulgences (■)-), Once
there stood here a great church which the Saracens have
destroyed, as they have done many other churches. Past
this stone goes the way down from INIount Sion to [104 «]
the Lord's sepulchre, so that every day we pilgrims used
to pass by this place, and I have sometimes passed by
it six times in one day. It is the custom of all pilgrims,
that whensoever they pass by any holy place, even when
they have no set purpose of visiting holy places, they kiss
the place and go their way. So whenever we passed by
the aforesaid stone, we used to kiss it ; but the Saracens
who lived in a house over against the stone, seeing this,
and being jealous of the devotion of the pilgrims, came by
night and daubed the stone over with ordure, making it
utterly foul and disgusting for us to kiss. Yet notwith-
standing this one of the pilgrims wiped the stone with his
clothes in a place where we could reach it to kiss it, so
that we paid the place no less reverence, nay, even more,
to the confusion of the Saracens. This dishonour was done
to us by the Saracens at many holy places in Jerusalem
and elsewhere.

21—2

324 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

THE CITADEL OF DAVID WHICH ENDS THE MOUNT SION

TOWARDS THE WEST.

Not much further, as we went towards the west, we
came to the corner of Mount Sion, where it ends towards
the west, and there stands the citadel of David. It stands
there at the present day, an exceeding strong and fair
castle and place of strength, on the top of a steep rocky
crag, and round about it are ditches which were always
naturally deep on that side on which the Mount Sion joins
the city; at which place was Millo. On the south side it
is fenced at the present day by a deep valley : the castle
also has high walls, and many towers and iron-barred
gates. On another day I saw the whole of the castle on
the inside. So now we stood still and gazed at the citadel
of David, so often spoken of in Scripture, and Millo ; and
there we mused upon how Jerusalem must have looked in the
days of old, for now it has been spoiled by its many sieges^
and its deep valleys are filled up with heaps of ruins which
have fallen into them. Close by the citadel of David is a
way down into the city, and to the holy sepulchre, through
a long street.

THE PLACE WHEREIN THE APOSTLES WERE SEPARATED
FROM ONE ANOTHER THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.

When we had gazed our fill upon the citadel of David^
we turned about, setting our backs to the west, and returned
by the way by which we came as far as the corner where
the blessed Virgin stood waiting, as is told on page 103 a^
From this corner we went on a little way towards the
south, and came to a place where the roads cut one another
in the form of a cross, so that a man standing in the midst-
of the cross made by the roads, could go to the east or to
the west, to the north, or to the south. Here is the place

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 325

where the Apostles separated : for they had talked with
the blessed Virgin in the upper chamber about their being
scattered abroad throughout all the world, according to the
commandment which was given them in the last chapter of
St. Mark's Gospel. So after they had received the Holy
Ghost, [d] and they had preached the Gospel throughout
all Judaea, and some years had passed, forced by the
persecution of the Jews, on the fifteenth of July, at the
bidding of the blessed Virgin, they prepared to set out,
carrying with them nothing save the articles of their faith,
which the twelve Apostles had put together in that first
council which they had held on Mount Sion. When the
hour of their departure drew nigh, they bowed themselves
with great reverence before the feet of the most blessed
Virgin Mary, asking for her blessing and leave to depart,
and the Virgin raised them up, embraced each of them,
gave them her blessing and, herself in tears, sent them
weeping on their way. They all came forth from the upper
chamber together, till the men who were about to preach
of the cross stood at that cross in the roads, and there,
rushing into each other's embrace, and kissing one another
they parted from one another with many tears, and were
separated throughout the whole world, three going to the
east, three to the west, three to the south, and three to the
north, to the four quarters of the world. Matthew, Thomas
and Bartholomew, with their disciples and followers went
towards the east ; Peter, Andrew, and James the Great to
the west with their followers. To the south went James,
John and Matthias, with their disciples, and to the north
went Simon, Thaddaeus and Philip with their followers, all
of them preaching everywhere, that they might glorify the
four quarters of the world with the doctrine of the Trinity.
So we stood in this place and gave thanks to God, who
from this place sent forth the holy Apostles into all the

326 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

world, glorying in whose faith we had returned thither.
We bowed ourselves down to the earth, and received
indulgences (-f*). In this place the sad separation and
schism of my brethren of the convent of Ulm occurred to
my memory, at which I myself was present, for it took
place in the year of our Lord 1476, on the very day when
the Apostles were divided. For because we clave unto
the Pope our Lord, and to the Roman church, as was meet,
right, holy, and indeed necessary for us to do, we were
forced to leave our convent and the city of Ulm, and were
scattered abroad throughout the convents of the province,
because we would not act profanely and contrary to the
apostolic command, and held by the interdict which had
been laid upon the country, and acknowledged the bishop
given and confirmed by the pope, not him who was elected
by the chapter and upheld by the Emperor. We remained
in exile for three months, and then, after peace had been
made again, we were recalled with great glory and honour.
Wherefore we decreed that while the convent lasted, the
day of the division of the Apostles should always be cele-
brated as a double feast, for a perpetual memorial of this
thing, that those who came after us might learn and know
that they must not disobey the command given to the
Apostles out of fear of any tribulation, but rather go into
exile, nay, even die. We endured many things during the
time of the interdict, which lasted for about two years ; but
enough of this.

'^HE ORATORY OF ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST, WHEREIN
HE CELEBRATED MASS, AND ADMINISTERED THE
SACRAMENTS TO THE VIRGIN MARY.

[105 a] Leaving the aforesaid place, we next came to a
very sacred place, where once stood an oratory, wherein
St. John the Evangelist daily celebrated Mass as long as

BROTHER FELIX FABRL 327

he remained in Jerusalem after our Lord's ascension, and
administered the sacrament to the most blessed Virgin
Mary, who had been commended to his care by our Lord
from the cross, which sacrament she daily received with
the greatest piety. Forasmuch as the sacraments of the
new law were appointed and ordained to be received by all
men, she, albeit full of grace, nevertheless received them
from the hand of John, her own priest, in his parish, which
was here. The most blessed Virgin took the sacrament
(i) because of her humility; (2) to avoid giving offence;
(3) to fulfil the command ; (4) because of the doctrine of
supererogation ; (5) for the confusion of those heretics who
declared that she was an angel and not a human being ;
(6) for the instruction of those who are made perfect. She
nevertheless partook daily in an especial manner of the
sacrament of penance, and every day, according to tradi-
tion, received the sacrament of the eucharist in this place
from the hands of St. John. Though she was free from all
sin, yet she often made the sacramental confession, ngt
accusing herself of any crime, nor yet acknowledging her-
self to be ungrateful for the benefits conferred upon her,
which is the usual confession of holy men who pass their
lives without crime ; but confessing the insufficiency of her
merits that she should have deserved such a manifestation
of the grace of God, a reward^ which she never could
deserve de co7idigno^ nor could any creature, although she
deserved it de congruo.

* * * * *

So we stood in this holy place and prayed devoutly, and

we bowed ourselves to the earth and kissed the sacred

footsteps, and received indulgences (f). There is no

building now standing on this spot, save that there is a

' See Laurence's ' Bampton Lectures,' Sermon A., note, 3rd edit.,
Oxford, J. H. Parker, 1S38.

328 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

dry stone wall round about it, and in the midst of it stands
a <;reat stone, having a place in it hollowed out with iron
tools, wherein they say that St. John used to keep the
chalice of the eucharist.

THE PLACE WHERE WAS THE HOUSE OF THE BLESSED
VIRGIN MARY, WHEREIN SHE DEPARTED FROM THIS
WORLD.

Leaving this place, we came at no great distance to
another place enclosed with a higher dry stone wall,
wherein tradition says that the house of the blessed
Virgin stood, wherein she lived a domestic life for four-
teen years. We are told in the Alcoran of Mohamet that
she only survived five years, and that her years in all were
fifty-three, as is said also by Nicholas de Cusa, Book II.,
chapter xv. Some say that she lived a longer, some a
shorter time, after our Lord's ascension. When the end
of her life was drawing nigh she begged John, who had
come to visit her with the rest of the Apostles, to admin-
ister to her the sacrament of extreme unction, although she
was not weak, or sickly, nor lacking strength, nor worn out
with old age, and therefore was not bound to receive this
sacrament [b], because it is administered only to the sick ;
nevertheless she gave herself up to this privilege of im-
munity from weakness and concealed it until she came to
t-he end of her life, just as she chose to conceal her privilege
of virginity when she underwent the ceremony of purifica-
tion enjoined by the law. Wherefore as she lay there with
most burning love, with sweetest languor, she humbly
received this sacrament, appointed as it was for sinners,
and therein beheld the expression of the accomplishment
of her victory in the past and of the fulness of her glory in
the future : in the place of the remission of venial sins her
preservation from all pain ; in the place of the alleviation

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 329

of sickness the glorification of her whole body. Havings
then received the sacrament she commended her soul into
the hands of God, and departed from this life, while there
stood round her bed the glorious company of the Apostles,
and the spotless band of one hundred and twenty virgins,
with many widows, to whom she left her body to be buried.
Wherefore in this holy place we bowed ourselves down in
prayer, chanted the appointed hymns of praise, and re-
ceived plenary indulgences (f f ). This place is remarkable
for being held in great reverence both by all Christians
and by many Saracens, yet there is no building thereon
save a dry stone wall. The Minorite brethren are using
their endeavours with the Soldan to get leave to build a
chapel and set up an altar in this place, for they dare not
put any stones together with mortar without leave from the
king, the Soldan, and they are in hopes of getting leave.
I have since heard that when the brethren had got full
license from the Soldan to work their will, and had been
at great expense to build an oratory, those mad dogs the
Saracens straightway broke into the oratory, and levelled
the whole building with the ground ; wherefore the place
at the present day is even as it was when I saw it.

THE PLACE WHERE ST. MATTHIAS WAS CHOSEN BY LOT
AS AN APOSTLE IN THE PLACE OF JUDAS.

Not far from this place, as we went towards the church
of Sion, we came to a red stone, where is the place wherein
St. Matthias was chosen as an Apostle, as we read in the
first chapter of the Acts, in the place of the traitor Judas,
as whose successor he was chosen on this spot. Here we
bowed ourselves to the earth in prayer, and received indul-
gences, singing the appointed hymns, and this place seemed
all the more sacred and homely to us because his blessed
body is kept among us in Germany in the city of Treves.

330 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

THE PLACE WHERE JAMES THE LESS WAS ORDAINEIV
BISHOP OF JERUSALEM.

Leaving that place we went on our way, and came to
the wall of the brethren's cemetery. In the wall is a white
stone marked with a cross, and that is the place where the
Apostle James the Less was elected and ordained Bishop
of Jerusalem, and where the first Mass was celebrated by
him. For this Apostle was so holy a man, that after ouf
Lord's ascension the Apostles conferred upon him the
honour of being the first of their number to celebrate Mass
in the presence of the Apostles, and they ordained him
Bishop of Jerusalem, thinking that he would be more
acceptable to the people of Jerusalem than any other, for
because of his exceeding great holiness of life he was
suffered to enter into the holy of holies, which no other
Apostle was permitted to do. He was a Nazarite from
his mother's womb, drank no wine or strong drink, never
ate flesh, iron never came upon his head, he never was
anointed with oil, never used baths, and always [io6^]
wore linen. He knelt in prayer so often that he had hard
skin on his knees like that on a man's heel. He was so
greatly reverenced by the people by reason of his excessive
holiness, that they used to strive one with another to touch
the hem of his garment. It was a peculiarity of St. James
that he was singularly like to our Lord, so much so that
many were deceived by their likeness. In all the outlines
of his body, and in his manner of conversation, in his face
and in his life, he was as like to Jesus as though he had
been His twin-brother ; so that after our Lord's ascension
many came up to Jerusalem from different parts of the
world that they might see the Lord Jesus in the person
of James. Among these was Ignatius the martyr, and
St. Paul the Apostle, as we read in his Epistle to the

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 331

Galatians J. 19. For this cause he was called the Lord's
brother. So in this place we said our prayers and received
indulgences (•}•).

THE PLACE WHERE THE SEVEN DEACONS WERE
APPOINTED TO THEIR MINISTRY.

Straightway after this we came to the place which is
customarily honoured on account of the choosing of the
seven deacons, of whose choosing we read in the sixth
chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. For as the number
of the faithful was multiplied after the sending of the Holy
Spirit, there arose a murmuring about the daily ministra-
tion, and some were over-burdened and some neglected.
Wherefore they chose seven men of approved lives, habits,
and grace, whom they appointed to the business of minis-
tration, among whom St. Stephen was the chief, being full
of grace and courage. So much for this. Here we gave
praise to God, said the appointed prayers, and received
indulgences (•{■).

THE PLACE WHERE THE APOSTLES COMPOSED THE
CREED OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH IN TWELVE
ARTICLES,

Near the same place of election is believed to be the place
where, after the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles
assembled a holy council, and gave the Church the twelve
articles of her faith, which they had composed, for her to
preach; by faith in which articles we all are saved, and
made God's children by adoption. Wherefore this place
deserves to be greatly reverenced. In it we confessed the
true faith, and hastened onwards to other holy places.
[Seepage 1521^] (f).

i

332 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

THE PLACE WHEREIN THE SARACENS SUPERSTITIOUSLY
HONOUR OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

Round about the dry stone wall which encircles the base
of the ancient church of Sion, there are certain places
wherein the Saracens and Eastern Christians practise
superstitious observances, more especially in a place near
the place of the division of the Apostles, beneath a fig-
tree, where there is a great heap of stones, to which Saracen
women come every day, and burn incense upon a stone,
and bury loaves of bread ; for they declare that it is here,
and not in Golgotha, where stands the church of the Holy
Sepulchre, that the sepulchre of Jesus is — nay, they even
look with scorn upon that church and the sepulchre therein,
and do not look there, but here, for the sepulchre of Jesus,
declaring that He who endured the cross, vi^hom the Jews
held to be Jesus, was indeed buried there below, but never-
theless that He was not Jesus, but another who was taken
and put to death in His stead, and that He escaped, being
the Son of God and of the Virgin, and therefore able to
escape. He died here in peace, and was buried in this
place, and here they call upon him to help them. For
when they are in certain straits they betake them to [bl
the Lord Jesus and the blessed Virgin Mary, yet not as
believers, but with many superstitions, just as they oft-
times send their infant children to the Christians to be
baptized when they are sick, supposing that they will be
healed or improved in bodily health by baptism, not
understanding or believing anything about the true and
particular effect thereof I several times went to this pile
of stones when I did not fear that any Saracen would come
thither, and scattered the stones which had been put
together to receive the fire, turned out the things which
thev had hidden beneath the stones, and so left the sicins
of my vengeance there.

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 333

THE GARDEN OF THE CONVENT OF THE BRETHREN OF

MOUNT SINAI.

Beyond this spot, near the Convent of Sion, but beyond
its precinct, on the southern, eastern and northern sides, on
a spur of Mount Sion, the brethren have a large garden,
which last year, by the Soldan's leave, they bought from a
Saracen for much gold. We entered this garden, and first
came to the cemetery of the friars, where they bury their
deceased brethren, and there we prayed for their souls.
Next we observed several deep cisterns therein, which the
brethren found after they had bought the garden and
began to dig it up. These cisterns were filled with earth
and stones, but they cleaned them, arranged gutters to
lead to them, and in rainy weather collect most excellent
water in them : for the water of the cistern, which is in
front of their refectory, which I have mentioned before on
page 97 a, is not sufficient to last them through the summer ;
indeed, it failed while I was living there ; so the cisterns in
this garden are very essential to them : for before they
bought the garden they used to suffer greatly from want of
water in dry hot years, but now that they own this garden
they cannot want for water, which is thought to be a great
thing in Jerusalem. In this garden, besides the cisterns,
there are many trees of different kinds, such as figs,
pomegranates, and the like, and pot-herbs for the use of
the convent. This garden is square, and stands upon a
spur of Mount Sion, where it has on the west side the
convent, the church, and the ridge of the Mount Sion
which is level with itself: on the other three sides it has
valleys, and it is surrounded by a dry stone wall. On the
south it has the valley of Aceldama and the Mount Gion,
on the east the valley of Siloam and the Mount of Offence,
and beyond it the valley of Jehoshaphat with the Mount of

334 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

Olives ; on the north it has Millo and the Holy City. We
walked all round the enclosure, and looked over its wall
down into the valleys and across them to the mountains
beyond. The view is a delightful one to a man who knows
the Scriptures. The wall which encloses the garden stands
on the edge of steep stone clififs, and there may be seen at
this day the exceeding ancient wall of Sion, and the
foundations of her towers, and many things lie there before
one's eyes which are mentioned in Holy Scripture, which
can hardly be understood by one who reads it, as for
instance about Millo, about Gion, about the valleys, and
so forth. While we thus stood looking about us on this
height, there arose a conversation among the lay pilgrim
knights which is worth recording. We had lain down
upon the wall, and were looking toward Jerusalem and the
valley of Jehoshaphat. [107 «] These laymen neglected all
the things which lay before their eyes, and directed their
gaze upon the temple which is called Solomon's Temple,
admiring it and desiring to enter it and behold it, and
they discoursed much one to another about how this temple
had endured from the time of Solomon till the present day.
While they talked thus I listened in silence, but after they
had spoken long and unprofitably, I said to them : * My
lords and fellow pilgrims, what is the reason that you ask
no questions, and make no remarks about the holy and
wondrous sights which you have before your eyes, but your
talk is only about a vain thing?' To this one of them
made answer : ' We know this Temple o.^ Solomon by
common report, and we have nothing holier, nothing more
gloiious or more beauteous within sight. As for the
mountains and valleys round about we do not care for
them, nor do we know them,' and they spoke truly, for
they did not as yet know the Mount of Olives. To this I
answered : ' The Temple of Solomon is not in sight, for it

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 335

was long ago brought to nought, and this temple which
you now see is the fourth temple which has been built on
that spot since Solomon's Temple. But granted that it
were the temple of Solomon, what have you to do with
that temple ? In it Christ is not worshipped, nay. He is
blasphemed against daily, and Mahomet the accursed is
praised. Was it for the sake of that abominable and
desecrated church that you came to Jerusalem? Where-
fore do you not look across the valley which is before you,
and at the mount which is over against you ?' When they
said that they did not know these places, I said : ' Lo, this
valley is the valley of Jehoshaphat, into which all the
world will be gathered together on the Day of Judgment,
and that mount over against you is the Mount of Olives,
from whence Christ ascended into heaven. Let us talk of
these, let us admire these ; these are things with which we
have to do : but not a word about that accursed temple.'
Then we began a profitable discourse about the smallness
of the valley of Jehoshaphat, and about many of the like
subjects. When we ended this talk we brought to an end
our pilgrimage to the holy places on Mount Sion which
are on its top. The other holy places on Mount Sion we
visited on another day, as will appear hereafter. So we
went home, everyone of us to his own place ; the lay
pilgrims to the Hospital of St. John, the clergy to the
convent of the friars.

THE PRAISE AND DESCRIPTION OF MOUNT SION.

Mount Sion is very often mentioned in Holy Scripture.
The Mount Sion stands on the south side of the holy city,
and stands higher than the rest of the city, though not
much higher, [li] In old times it was encircled by valleys
on all sides, even on the side which looks towards the city
of Jerusalem, so that between it and the city there was a

336 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

deep ravine, by which the city was cut off from the mount :
and men used to cross from the city to the mount by a
wooden bridge. The kings of Judah tried to fill up this
ravine, that Sion and Jerusalem might be one city, and
took great pains to bring earth thither. As the Mount
Sion stands upon steep rocks on every side, they poured
earth into the ravine from the direction of the city, and
also towards the east, so that the earth might be raised to
the height of the walls of rock, and gardens be made round
Mount Sion even as there are at the present day. Where-
fore that place between the two, which they strove to fill
up with earth and raise to the level of the city, they called
Millo, that is, the ' FilHng-up,' whereof mention is made in
2 Sam. v. 9 ; I Kings ix. 24 ; and 2 Chron. xxxii. 5.
Howbeit, this work was never fully completed, for some
deep places have always remained between the two cities,
and are there at the present day, as anyone may see who
looks carefully for them in the garden of the friars and
near the citadel of David. This mount begins at the Gate
of the Waters or of the Fountain of Siloam on the east, and
makes a half circle towards the south as far as the west,
where was the tower of David, and at this day there is a
castle there. Throughout the whole of this half circle there
are steep rocks, and round the chord of that semi-circle
also, which is Millo. Above this was the Mount Sion,
and at this day it is so wide that the city of Bieberich
would have room to stand thereon. On this mount, in
very ancient times, there stood a citadel, which David
took with much toil, and gave his own name to the city of
Mount Sion, as we read in the eleventh chapter of the first
book of Chronicles. This mount in the olden time was all
but impregnable ; everyone who has read the books of the
Maccabees knows what labours and troubles those most
valiant men endured before they could drive out the

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 337

Gentiles from the citadel of Sion. It is because of the
strength of Sion that Jerusalem is called the daughter of
Sion in Scripture, because as a daughter is protected by
her mother, and stands at her feet, even so Jerusalem is
protected by Sion, and stands beneath it, as for instance :
' Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh,'
which means, ' Tell ye the city of Jerusalem.' This phrase,
"* the Mount Sion,' wherever we meet with it in Scripture,
is always to be taken in a good, never in a bad sense.
Sometimes it means the state of supreme beatitude, the
vision of the Divine essence ; sometimes the host of angels,
sometimes the Church triumphant, sometimes the Church
militant, sometimes only the elect of God in the Church,
sometimes those who live the contemplative life, sometimes
certain persons in holy orders, sometimes prelates, some-
times preachers. This is the mount whereof it is said :
' The hill of Sion is a fair place, and the joy of the whole
earth : on the north side lieth Jerusalem ;'^ for, indeed,
Jerusalem lieth on its north side. Also, ' Walk about Sion,
and go round about her ;'2 also, ' For the Lord hath chosen
Sion ;'^ also, ' The Lord loveth the gates of Sion more than
all the dwellings of Jacob ;'* and, ' God will save Sion ;'^
and, * O that salvation were given to Israel out of Sion.'^
Again, David says in his own person, and in that of Christ :
• I have set my King upon my holy hill of Sion ; I will
preach the law,''' and ' Sion heard of it, and rejoiced.''^
]\Ioreover, Isaiah speaks of [108 a] * Sion, the city of our
strength ;' and, ' He shall give consolation to the mourners
■of Sion ;' and, ' For Sion's sake I will not hold my peace ;'
and, ' Sion, thy king reigneth.' In many parts of Scripture
•also we are asked to ascend the hill of Sion, as in the

1 Psa. xlviii. 2. 2 pga xlviii. 11. 3 pga. cxxxii. 14.

-+ Psa. Ixxxvii. 2. ^ -p^^ j^x. 36, 6 pga, liii, 7.

7 Psa. ii. 6. 8 Psa. xcvii. 8.

22

338 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

second chapter of Isaiah : * Come ye, and let us go up to
the mountain of the Lord ;' and he tells us what it is that
we ought to go up to : ' Sing ye unto the Lord, who dwelleth
in Sion ;' and, 'They shall come into Sion with praise.'
Moreover, Isaiah, wishing to say something great about the
mount, says : ' And it shall come to pass in the last days
that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established
in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above
the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.'^ This saying
has been fulfilled by the celebration on this mount of the
most profound mysteries, on account whereof people of all
nations of the world flow thither. The Jews show great
folly with regard to this text, and veil it in a darkness
caused by their own error, for they try to prove from it
that Jesus was not the true Messiah, because at His coming
the Mount Sion was not raised to a pinnacle above all
other hills. They say that in the time of the Messiah God
will carry Mount Tabor and Mount Sinai and Mount
Carmel to the place where Jerusalem now is, and will place
Jerusalem and those three mountains one above another,,
and will place Mount Sion on the top of the topmost
mountain. And because Christ did not do this, therefore
they say that He is not the Messiah. But we ought to
reply to these unhappy blinded men, that this raising up of
the Mount Sion is not to be understood of the place, but of
its exceeding glory, in that Christ would thereon do great
and marvellous acts, such as the institution of the sacra-
ments, and the sending of the Holy Spirit, and other
works, as is clear. From all this it is evident that the
Mount Sion is a mount of great height and loftiness, great
strength and power, great plenteousness and fulness, great
beauty and pleasantness, great trustiness and security,
great wealth and riches, great joy and gladness, great

^ Isa. ii. 2.

BROTHER FELIX FABRI.

y^^

righteousness and equity, great purity and holiness, great

doctrine and truth, great prophecy and telh'ng of things to

tome. It is the mount of the completion of the Old

Testament and the beginning of the New ; the mount of

the sacraments of Christ and of the gifts of the Holy

Spirit ; the mount of the Virgin Mary, whereon she dwelt,

whereon she taught the Apostles, inspired the Evangelists,

sent forth the Apostles to the world, and whereon she

herself departed this life. The mount is at this day in

the possession of Christians ; it is a heritage of the clergy,

a hospice for pilgrims : for thereon dwell only Christians,

and no Saracen or Jew has any dwelling-place on the

mount at this day, but there are only monasteries of

Christian men thereon. Wherefore I one day asked a

Saracen whom I knew well, why he did not build himself

a house on Mount Sion rather than in Jerusalem, to which

he answered : ' Because Mount Sion is a desert through its

lack of water ; because water can be had more easily and

in greater quantity in Jerusalem than on Sion.' It may be

that God has ordained that Saracens should lack water on

this holy mount, whereas the Christians who dwell thereon

have plenty. This mount is exceeding high, not indeed

with respect to those round about it, but with respect [pl

to those which are far away : for the mountains of Arabia,

when seen from Mount Sion, seem to be low, albeit they

are very high, and Mount Sion is far higher than the

mountains of Arabia. The convent of the ^Minorite

Brethren stands in a most pleasant, beauteous, and lofty

place. Before they came to Jerusalem there was there a

convent of Canons Regular, but after the loss of the Holy

Land the King of Sicily bought this place on Mount Sion

from the Soldan, and also the chapel of the Blessed Virgin

in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and the church at Bethlehem,

with the monastery there, and gave for them in gold, paid

340 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

on the spot, thirty-two thousand ducats of approved weight
He also brought the Minorite Friars to Mount Sion, and
entrusted to them the ownership and management of the
aforesaid places : wherefore the Pope himself is wont often
to constitute the Guardian of Mount Sion the Superior of
the whole Eastern Church in those parts. The brethren
have great privileges granted them by the Popes, whereof
it does not belong to my subject to speak. The precincts
of the convent of Mount Sion are very cramped, the church
is small, the cloister narrow, the cells little. Yet albeit the
house is small, twenty-four brethren dwell together therein,
serving the Lord in a life spent under rule. Because of
the insults and rage of the infidels, they have an iron door
and beside the same fierce dogs, savage with strangers, who
keep watch, and by their barking betray those who come
thither to do any mischief, whether by day or by night.
So much for this.

HERE BEGINNETH THE VISIT TO THE HOLY PLACES IN
THE CHURCH OF GOLGOTHA, THAT IS, OF THE HOLY
SEPULCHRE, AND TO THE HOLY SEPULCHRE ITSELF.

On the fourteenth day, beginning the day from the
evening of the day before, because the procession to the
holy places is appointed in that fashion, when the sun was
setting, warning was given to all the pilgrims that they
should straightway present themselves at the court or yard
which lies before the (door of the) Church of the Holy
Sepulchre, and that they should hurry over their supper,
because the Moorish lords who keep the keys of the holy
church were waiting for us there. So we made haste, and
having taken with us the things which we meant to use,
we came down to the court-yard of the aforesaid church,
wherein we found a great disorderly crowd of Eastern
Christians and Saracens — men, women, and children.

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. ■ 341

Also dealers in precious wares sat there and sold them, and
some had loaves of bread, eg^s, and grapes for sale, whereof
we bought some, and put them in our scrips for the repast
which we should take within the church. Now, as soon as
all the Saracen lords who [109 a\ had to do with the
opening of the church were present at the door of that holy
temple, they took their places gravely and seriously. Before
the door on either side thereof great stones of polished marble
have been placed for benches, upon which these men sat
with their faces turned away. They were men of a fine
presence, well stricken in years, handsome, wearing long
beards, and of solemn manners, dressed in linen clothes,
and with their heads wrapped round and round with count-
less folds of very fine linen. When all of us were collected
together before those doors, they opened the church doors
with their keys, and, standing beside them, let us in two by
two, counting us even as they did when we came out of
our ship on to the land, as aforesaid, and they looked at
us very keenly. It is said of them that they are greatly
skilled in the art of physiognomy, and that as soon as they
look upon any man they perceive his station in life, his
disposition, and his desires. We went by them with shame
and blushing, because it is a great confusion that Christ's
faithful worshippers should be let into Christ's church by
Christ's blasphemers ; and they let in whom they please,
and kept out whom they please ; for they drove away from
the church doors with blows from their staves and fists
many Christians of other rites who wanted to come in
together with us. I confess that while I was passing
between them into the church I was filled with confusion
and covered with blushes, nor could I look them straight
in the face by reason of the bhame which I felt : not
because of the badge of the cross which I bore on my
clothes, but because of their unrighteous and impious

i

342 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

power over those who bear the cross. There sat those
dogs, as though they were our judges, and doubtless judged
us to be fools because of the cross of Christ, because the
name and the sign of the cross is foolishness to them that
are appointed to perish (i Cor. i. 23). Thus, however, is
it ordered by the Divine wisdom, that the followers of the
Crucified shall be brought to the place where the cross
stood by those who scoff at the cross, that by the foolish-
ness of the cross they may believe and be saved. Now, as
soon as we were all inside, the Saracens straightway pulled
back the doors of the church quickly behind our backs,
locked them with bolts and locks, as men are wont to do
after they have pushed robbers violently into a dungeon,
and went away with the keys, thus leaving us prisoners in
the most delightful, lightsome, and roomy of prisons, in
the garden of the most precious sepulchre of Christ, at the
foot of the mount of Calvary, in the middle of the world.
Oh how joyous an imprisonment ! how desirable a captivity !
how delightful an enclosure! how sweet a locking in, whereby
the Christian is locked in and imprisoned in the sepulchre
of his Lord !

HOW THE PILGRIMS BEHAVED WHEN THEY FIRST
ENTERED THE CHURCH, AND WHAT BEFELL BROTHER
FELIX FABRI ON HIS FIRST PILGRIMAGE.

Lo, my brethren ! the truth compels me to begin by
telling you of my own stupid carelessness and grievous
irreverence, [d] for which I beseech you to pray to God on
my behalf, that He may not lay up my misdeeds for
punishment at the last. This was what befell me, unhappy
wretch that I was, on my first pilgrimage. When we had
been locked into the church, and no longer feared anyone,
because no infidel was with us, we began in our joy to run
to and fro through the church, seeking the holy places

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 343

without any regular order, and every man went whither-
soever he would at the bidding of his own spirit. I did
not hurry, but went with a slow step towards the middle of
the church, walking without any set purpose, and after I
had gone forward about seventeen paces I stopped, and,
lifting up my face, looked at the vault above me. I cast
my eyes upon the upper windows with curiosity, as ill-bred
men stare about in strange places and houses without
respect for anyone, and so I stood by myself with wander-
ing eyes. As I stood thus thoughtlessly, there came to me
two ladies who were pilgrims, one of whom was a German,
Hildegarde by name, and they fell down before my feet
and lay there weeping and sobbing, kissing the stone
whereon I was standing. I was surprised and astonished,
and said in German to her, ' What is the matter, Lady
Hildegarde, that you should do so ?' She answered me,
scarce able to speak for weeping, 'Lo, my brother! the
stone whereon you stand is that whereon Joseph and
Nicodemus laid the most precious body of our Lord when
He was taken down from the cross, and they anointed
Him and wrapped Him in His shroud upon this table of
stone.' When I heard this I trembled, and, drawing back
my feet with horror, I fell on the earth before the stone.
Now I scarce dared to touch with my mouth that which
before I had not feared to tread irreverently upon with my
shod feet. ' O Lord !' I prayed, ' remember not the past
sins of my youth, and the present sins of my ignorance.
O Lord my God, Thy chosen servant Moses was bidden
by Thee when in the desert of Midian to put his shoes
from his feet because the ground whereon he stood was
holy ; and the holy Joshua did not dare to stand shod in
the field of Jericho, yet I, who am devoid of all holiness,
full of vices, have dared to trample with my shod feet all
irreverently upon the place which Thou Thyself hast

344 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

sanctified with Thy most precious body, naked and
wounded ; nor can I find any excuse, for we read that
Uzzah was stricken dead by Thee because he put forth
his hand to the wain which bore Thy ark when it was like
to fall. And, behold, here we have incomparably more
beneath our feet than the land of Midian, or the field of
Jericho, and a stone which is more worthy of honour than
the wain or the ark. Therefore, Lord God, have patience
with me, and I will pay Thee all reverence and honour at
Thy holy places, and will render to Thee whatever else is
Thy due with all the piety of which I am capable, and
which Thou Thyself shalt bestow upon me.' After having
prayed thus I arose, and sought my lords and companions
throughout the church, and I found them sitting together
in the chapel of the Blessed Virgin, waiting till the pro-
cession should be formed. Now the Father Guardian called
together all the pilgrims, and set forth to them the rules
and customs of the Church, which he reduced to thirteen
heads:

[iiOrt] First, he told us that every pilgrim must buy a
wax taper, which he must carry lighted in the procession.
For many merchants had come in with us having wax
tapers and other things for sale.

Secondly, he bade the pilgrims take care to walk orderly
in the procession, so that one should not get in the way of
another or push against him, as also we were bidden to do
in the sixth article delivered to us at Rama ; but forasmuch
as in the procession now about to be formed there is more
force and more pushing, therefore he here repeated this
and several other commands given us there.

Thirdly, that we should consecrate this night to God,
and take part in matins and other divine services without
any slackness.

Fourthly, that we should not make the house of prayer

BROTHER FELIX FADRI. 345

into a house of merchandise, and not sit and waste our
time trafficking with the Eastern Christian merchants.

Fifthly, he begged all such as were priests to go and
celebrate Mass without disputing one with another. For
they are wont to quarrel about places, and all of them
want to celebrate Mass in the holy sepulchre of our Lord,
which is impossible in one day.

Sixthly, he appointed four altars for the celebrants —
that is to say, one in the holy sepulchre, one on Mount
Calvary, one at the place of the unction of Christ, whereof
I have already spoken, and a fourth in the chapel of the
Virgin Mary. Besides these there are many other altars in
different parts of the church ; but they belong to schismatics
and heretics, wherefore we did not celebrate Mass at them.

Seventhly, he bade all pilgrims make ready to confess
themselves, and every one of them take the Communion
after the service.

Eighthly, he gave authority to all pilgrim priests, and to
his own brethren who had entered the church with us, to
hear confession both actively and passively, and to absolve
from all sins, even from those reserved for the Holy See,
for the Guardian of Mount Sion has this power delegated
to him by the Pope.

Ninthly, he forbade any priest to administer the Eucharist
to any pilgrim as he stood at the place where he celebrated
Mass ; but he ordered that all should receive the sacrament
after High Mass on Mount Calvary from the priest who
officiated there, unless he should grant any special privilege
to anyone.

Tenthly, he warned the pilgrims not to lay down, or leave
about their property while they were making the round of
the holy places in the church, lest they should lose it,
because thefts often took place here, whence suspicion ard
much disturbance arose.

346 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

Eleventhly, in case anyone should wish to give alms at
the holy places, and in giving them should wish to favour
the Catholics rather than the schismatics, he explained to
them which were the places of the Catholics and which
were those of the schismatics.

Tvvelfthly, he warned us that, as has been already treated
of in the first of the articles delivered to us at Rama, we
must not break anything off at the holy places, neither
must any man draw his coat-of-arms there, lest by their
means holy places should be defiled.

Thirteenthiy, he besought us that each of us would rouse
himself to a spirit of lively devotion, and that we would
profit by these most holy places, showing them that honour
and reverence which is due to them. \^b'\

HERE FOLLOWETH THE PROCESSION ROUND THE HOLY
PLACES IN THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE,
AND FIRST THE PROCESSION TO THE CHAPEL OF
THE BLESSED VIRGIN, AND THE DESCRIPTION OF
THE SAME CHAPEL AND OF THE HOLY PLACES
THEREIN.

Having thus received the rules by which we were to be
guided while in the holy temple, we each of us went to the
merchants, and everyone bought candles of the whitest of
wax, great or small, ornamented or plain, as he pleased.
There was no lack of vainglory even in this, for some had
candles curiously twisted and decorated with gilding and
painting, which they carried with ostentation, and looked
with scorn upon those who carried plain candles, blaming
them for closefistedness. Some bought many candles,
which they lighted in the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre
and then extinguished, and afterwards took them home
with them to their own country, where they made their
wives hold them lighted when they were in childbed, that

BROTHER FELIX FABRL 347

they might be deHvered without danger, for they say that
these candles are useful for that purpose.

Now, while we were busied about buying our candles,
the brethren with the Father Guardian were arraying them-
selves, putting on their sacred vestments, which they had
brought with them from Mount Sion, to make a solemn
procession round all the holy places in the same order
wherein they had made that on Mount Sion, as has been
told on page g/^a.

So when we were all standing in order with our lights
burning, the precentor at the head of the procession began
in a loud and cheerful voice to sing the Salve Regina,
which we all took up, and chanting this hymn we came in
procession to the chapel of the glorious Virgin Mary, to the
altar in front of the chapel. In this place, according to
ancient tradition, the blessed Virgin Mary remained from the
hour in which her Son was taken down from the cross till
that of His resurrection from the dead, and she did not
enter again into the city of Jerusalem. For near the rock
of Calvary there Avere in a garden several poor men's
dwellings, even as at the present day there are gardens
without the city, with houses in them, wherein the owners
of the gardens dwell when they take their pleasure, but at
all other times poor men inhabit them. So after the Lord
Jesus, as He hung upon the cross, had commended His
mother to the care of John, she was led away from the
cross, but would on no account suffer herself to be led far
away from the cross of her Son, or to enter the city,
knowing that in all Jerusalem there was no lodging for her
because of the shame of her Son, which was so great that
men shrank even from receiving His mother into their
houses. She, therefore, suffered herself to be led to a
dwelling not far from the cross, that she might not fail to
be with her Son when He was dying and giving up the

■^

348 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

ghost, but might share all His agony ; moreover, she
wished to see and know what would be done with her
Son's body after death, in order that if it were cast away,
as were the bodies of other condemned persons, she might
carry it ofif for herself, or that, if it were buried, she might
be present at the burial, and perform the funeral offices, as,
indeed, she did. For when she saw Joseph and Nicodemus
making ready to bury her Son, she herself ran to them full
of sorrow, and attended the burial, after which she was
brought into this dwelling, and would not move further
away from the spot. Indeed, other fond mothers are wont
to do this for their beloved sons, and if they were suffered
they would always remain weeping at the tombs of their
dear ones, [iiirt] even as Mary Magdalen, who could
hardly be torn away from the tomb of her brother
Lazarus, as we read in the eleventh chapter of St John.
How much more, then, the most blessed Virgin Mary, who
loved her Son incomparably more than any mother or
friend could love their dear ones ! It was, then, to this
place that Christ first came after His resurrection. Vin-
centius, of the Order of Preaching Friars, tells us that when
the Lord arose from the dead He sent the angel Gabriel
before Kim to announce to His mother the advent of her
most glorious Son, immediately after v/hich her Son Him-
self appeared, clothed in exceeding white raiment, with a
cheerful countenance, beauteous, glorious, and jo}-ous.
His scars shone resplendent, His whole being seemed to
rejoice, and He most fondly greeted her, leading after Him
all the saints whom He had brought out of the nether
world. But who can tell with what joy the glorious Virgin
was possessed ? Wherefore in this holy place we sang our
hymns with joy, and when we had sung them and finished the
service contained in the processional, we drew near to the
place, and, kneeling there, received plenary indulgences [ff),.

!

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 349

THE PLACE WHEREIN IS KEPT PART OF THE PILLAR
AT WHICH JESUS WAS SCOURGED.

Thence, singing the appointed hymn, we went forward
towards the right hand. Here is a sort of recess, or bUnd
window in the wall, in which recess stands a large part of
that most precious pillar to which the Lord Jesus was
bound naked in the house of Pilate, and was cruelly
scourged with whips and rods. We went up one by one,
and touched the sacred pillar with our hands, passing them
through an iron grating. Here, also, we received plenary
indulgences ("fi"). In old times this pillar was brought
entire from the house of Pilate to the Mount Sion, where-
fore Jerome says of Paula : ' She ' (that is, the holy Paula),
'was shown on Mount Sion the pillar which supported the
porch of the church, which pillar was red with the blood of
the Lord, and to which Jesus when in bonds was brought
to be scourged.' But after the destruction of the oid
church of Sion, as I have said before, one part was brought
hither. A third piece is in the church of St. Praxede at
Rome. A fourth is at Lyons in the church of St. Hyrcanus
the Just, and other pieces of it beside these are to be found
in churches in other parts of the world also. The piece
which stands in this place is one palm and the thickness of
three fingers in width, and four palms in height, and is
of a purple colour, sprinkled with red spots. This is due
either to the nature of the stone, or, as Jerome and Bede
appear to think, to a miracle.

THE PLACE WHEREIN THE HOLY CROSS WAS KEPT AFTER
ITS INVENTION, BEFORE ITS LOSS.

In this place we turned to the opposite part of the chapel,
and there also there is a recess in the wall, in which a
piece of the most blessed cross was kept for two hundred

350 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

years. It was thickly studded with gold, silver, and jewels
by the most illustrious Helena, who found it, and who, as
she found it entire, caused it to be cut in two, and left one
piece here, while she translated the other to Constantinople.
As long as the holy cross stood in this place, the Eastern
[<^] Church prospered and increased, contained most holy
men, and ever triumphed over the enemies of the cross of
Christ ; but as soon as it was taken away the Church
dwindled and became a mere wreck. We did honour to
this place, albeit it was empty, and we sang there the
hymn of the holy cross which is in the processional : for
though it was absent, we saw it as though it were present ;
for, as we thought, a certain virtue breathes forth from
that reliquary, as though left behind there by the wood of
the holy cross. Nor is this to be wondered at : for if after
the wine has been poured out the vessel still retains the
scent of the wine, even so this reliquary, wherein was
enclosed the wood which hath the savour of life eternal,
still retains the scent thereof. Indeed, that the place may
be the more worthy of respect, they have set up a cross
therein, which cross has a small fragment of the true cross
of Christ inserted into it. We kissed this fragment, and
received indulgences (i*).

THE PLACE WHERE THE HOLY CROSS WAS PROVED TO
BE THE TRUE ONE BY RAISING A DEAD MAN TO
LIFE.

When we had finished our service in that place we set
out, singing another hymn, to the middle of the chapel,
where is the place whither the three crosses were brought
after their invention, that it might be proved which cross
was the cross of Christ. A dead man was brought, and at
the touch of the cross of Christ he arose alive. Here is a
chapel of the Latins, and no nation has any right therein

1

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 351

save only the Latins, and the guardians of the holy
sepulchre, who represent the Latins, perform service therein.
Behind this chapel they have chambers wherein they cook,
eat, sleep, and do their needs. The Minorite Brethren
generally have three brethren dwelling in that place. I
have slept for many hours at a time in the dormitory of
the brethren.

THE PLACE WHERE OUR LORD APPEARED TO MARY
MAGDALEN IN THE FORM OF A GARDENER.

After our visit to this chapel we went out of it in pro-
cession into the church, down four steps, and at the foot of
the steps we straightway came to a place where there were
two circles in the pavement, five paces distant one from
the other, made of polished and variegated marble. We
stood round about these circles, chanting the service
proper for this place, as contained in the processional.
This is said to be the place where the Lord Jesus appeared
to Mary INIagdalen in the form of a gardener. The Lord
stood in the place where one of the circles is, and Mary
where the other circle is. It was here that Mary fell at
His feet, and that he would not suffer Himself to be
touched, because He was not yet ascended to the Father,
as may be read at length in the twentieth chapter of St
John's Gospel.

The event which here took place may inspire with
zealous devotion the pilgrim who takes to heart the example
set by Mary, As she did not find Him whom she sought
in the sepulchre, she ran about all the corners of the
garden, hither and thither, glowing with such a fire of love
that she forgot her womanly weakness, and neither feared
the black darkness nor the terrors of the persecutors, nor
recked of the guardians of the place, but ran to and fro,
weeping, panting, groaning. No doubt, had she been told,

352 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

[ii2rt] ' Lo, He whom you seek has already crossed the
Great Sea, passed over the Alpine mountains, withdrawn
Himself from the east to the west, and is now in the
furthest country towards the westward,' she would, in spite
of a thousand dangers, have straightway crossed the sea,
have passed over the mountains, have scoured the west
country, and have made her way even to Ireland, which is
the furthest of all lands towards the west. But the gracious
Lord appeared to her here, in this place, and never will
hide Himself from those who come hither from the west
through so many perilous lands and so many dangerous
seas, that they may seek Him whom they love. I do not
reckon the promise given in the eighth chapter of
Zechariah : * Thus saith the Lord of hosts : Behold, I will
save my people from the east country and from the west
country, and I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the
midst of Jerusalem ; and they shall be my people, and I
will be their God.'^

So here we bowed ourselves to the earth at the feet of
the Lord Jesus, kissed His footprints, and received in-
dulgences (-f).

THE PLACE OF THE PRISON WHICH WAS NEAR TO THE
ROCK OF CALVARY, WHEREIN CHRIST WAS CON-
FINED AFTER HE LEFT THE JUDGMENT-HALL.

Leaving this place, we went on our way singing in pro-
cession, and entered a darksome chapel hewn out of the
rock, which has no windows, but contains one altar within
it, and has two small doors. This chapel in the time of
Christ was a prison or lock-up near the Mount Calvary,
built to the intent that condemned criminals appointed to
die might be locked up therein while the instruments of
their torture were being made ready, such as crosses,

^ Zech. viii. 7.

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 355

gallows, wheels, wood for fires, and the like, and also that
they might drink and make themselves drunk therein, for
it was the custom that those who were to be punished
with death should first be made drunk with the strongest
wine, that they might fear death less, and endure their
torments with greater courage : so, that they might drink
the more deeply, they were shut in here with wine, that
they might do so without shame. Wherefore when the Lord
Jesus was brought out hither with His cross, they shut Him
up in this cell, while the three holes were being made in the
rock of Calvary for the three crosses, that in the meantime
He might drink. They gave the Lord ' wine mingled with
myrrh' (Mark xv. 23), which was exceeding bitter, where-
fore He refused the proffered drink, as we are told in the
same passage.

In this venerable cell we reflected, not without sorrow,
how the Lord Jesus wept therein, and awaited the torture
of the cross with equal dread and desire. We therefore
entered it one by one, with sighs and groans, and each in
turn bowed himself to the earth and kissed the footprints
of our Saviour, and there we received indulgences (f).

THE PLACE WHERE THE SOLDIERS CAST LOTS FOR THE
GARMENTS OF CHRIST, AND DIVIDED THEM AMONGST
THEM.

Continuing our course, we passed on from the prison of
Christ to another chapel with three blocked-up windows,
where, after the Lord Jesus was fastened to the cross, His
crucifiers stood and cast lots for what each one should take
of the garments of Jesus, and they parted His raiment
into four parts, one part for each soldier, [d] But His
seamless tunic they cast lots for, because it would have
been useless if cut. So they sat down in this place and

23

354 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

cast lots, showing great contempt for Christ. Here we were
moved with compassion for the nakedness of Christ, and
when we had finished chanting the service we kissed the
place, and received indulgences (f).

THE SEAT WHEREON THE LORD JESUS SAT DURING HIS
DESPITEOUS CORONATION.

When we came out of that chapel we went forward to the
places beyond, chanting a mournful hymn of the coronation
of the Lord, how He was crowned with a crown of thorns,
and we came to another dark chapel, whose only window
v/as blocked up with stones, and wherein was a fair altar,
unbroken, but without hangings, etc. Beneath this altar
stands a round stone, which seems to have been a section
cut out of a column. This stone at the time of Christ's
passion stood in the house of Pilate, in front of the stable
for mules, as a seat : for it was so arranged as to be
convenient for sitting on. So when they wished to crown
the Lord with a crown of thorns, they rolled this stone
from its place to the praetorium, made the Lord Jesus sit
thereon, and crowned Him with thorns while He sat upon
this stone. After Christ's passion the faithful brought that
stone hither, for a perpetual memorial of that most cruel
and despiteous coronation. We therefore prostrated our-
selves, and with worship of the Lord touched this stone
with our hands, and kissed it with our mouths, and received
indulgences (-j*). We recalled to our memory all that the
Lord had suffered while He sat upon that stone, how the
Lord Jesus was clad in mockery in a scarlet robe, holding
a reed in His hand instead of a sceptre, crowned with
a crown of thorns, blindfolded, spat upon, buffeted, smitten
with men's hands, wounded with the reed, addressed with
• Hail,' called ' King of the Jews,' named a prophet,
wounded by a thousand pricks of the thorns, exposed to

BROTHER FELIX FABRL 355

public derision, and how thus loaded with scorn He sat
upon this stone like a king upon a throne, clearly showing
that His kingdom was not of this world. Wherefore the
saints do not recognise Christ as King, except as He sat
crowned upon this stone. We read of St. JMartin, that an
evil spirit appeared to him, wearing a golden crown and a
purple robe, and compassed about with splendour, saying
that he was Christ. To him Martin answered : ' I know
not Christ save wearing the crown of thorns and the
marks of the cross.' Hearing this, the demon was con-
founded, and fled. We read likewise of St. Catharine, of
Siena, that when she had been shamefully slandered by
some wicked woman, she was troubled and betook herself
to the Lord, beseeching Him to defend her innocence.
Christ appeared to her, having in His right hand a crown
of gold, glittering with pearls, and in His left a crown of
thorns, bristling with spikes, and said to her : ' Choose
which thou wilt ; either in the course of this life to be
crowned with the crown of thorns, and I will lay up
for thee another precious crown for life eternal ; or, take
this precious crown now, and this thorny one shall be
laid up for thee after death.' The virgin answered, ' Lord,
in this life I have always chosen to be moulded in the
likeness of Thy most blessed passion, and I now make my
choice.' Saying this she, with both her hands, snatched
the crown of thorns from the hand of the Saviour, and
placed it upon her own head with such force, that after
the vision had passed away she felt a distinct pain in
her head from the pricks of the thorns. So likewise the
glorious King Baldwin of Jerusalem, who was the first
Latin Christian who reigned there, had for his ensign of
royalty a crown not of gold [113 «] but of thorns, and
always on days of solemn state, even when other kings
were present, he went crowned with thorns, saying that it

23—2

356 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

would be unseemly for a sinful man to walk abroad as
King of Jerusalem, tricked out with a crown of gold, when
the King of Heaven had been crowned in Jerusalem with
a crown of thorns. Round about Jerusalem there grow
exceeding sharp thorns, whereof I wove a crown and
carried it to Ulm with me. We ought not to believe
that it was sea-thorns which were used to crown Christ,
but the common thorns which grow in the neighbourhood
of Jerusalem, on the Mount Sion, and on the Mount of
Olives, and in the valleys : for the crowning of Christ was
not a premeditated act of either Jews or Gentiles, but
when He was brought before the judge and accused of
having said that He, Christ, was a King, then of a sudden
it came into their minds that He ought to be crowned in
mockery and with torment, and they brought thorns from
the nearest bushes, or perhaps found them in the kitchen
of the house (of Pilate) among the faggots of wood for the
fire, for I have seen with my own eves that even at the
present day they have no firewood save thorns, and their
kitchens are full of exceeding sharp thorns for burning in
the fire.

OF THE CHAPEL OF ST. HELENA, THE DISCOVERER OF

THE HOLY CROSS.

When we had left that chapel we went on our way,
circling round the church on the inside, chanting the hymn
of St. Helena, as is appointed in the processional, and we
came to a great door in the wall of the church, as though
through this door there were a passage to the outside of
the church. Through this door we passed into darkness,
which we dispelled with our lights, and straightway we felt
under our feet stone steps, down which we went by thirty
steps or stairs into a chapel which is called the chapel of
St. Helena, and which is underground. There, when we

BROTHER FELIX FABRL 357

had finished chanting our service, we knelt and prayed
and received indulgences (f). This chapel is of good size,
its only walls being the rock out of which it is hewn, and
in like manner the steps from the church above lead down
between walls of rock. Above it is vaulted, and gets its
light through the vaulted roof, which vault is supported by
six marble columns. It is said that at the time of Christ's
passion these columns supported the judgment-hall wherein
the Lord was judged, and that they were brought hither
by St. Helena. These columns are black and polished,
and continually sweat ; water drips from them drop by
drop, and when a man wipes away these drops with his
hand or his clothes, straightway other drops burst forth.
The common people say that they began this miraculous
sweat when Christ was being punished in the judgment-
hall, and that this sweating is their tears over the innocence
of Christ Jesus. We ought not altogether to reject the
opinion of the common people, which of a surety is not
altogether idle ; for if stones can be said to sing praises to
the Redeemer when men are silent, as we read in the
nineteenth chapter of St Luke, what wonder is there if
stones [b] should weep for the death of the Redeemer
while men laughed it to scorn? As on Palm Sunday the
Jewish boys and the disciples of Christ cried ' Hosanna,'
and the stones were silent, yet had these been silent the
stones would have cried out, even so had men wept for
His innocent and cruel death, these stones would not have
shed tears. But since men did not weep, the rocks shed
tears, even as we read that they were rent asunder when
Christ died. There is therefore no improbability in the
pious belief of the populace, which declares that these
columns wept at his death, save only that it is not men-
tioned in Scripture : indeed, it is easier for a stone to
weep than to sing praises. Furthermore, they say that

358 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

these columns weep thus continually because men rejoice
and laugh, when they ought to be ever bewailing Christ's
passion and their own sins and the wretchedness of this
wicked world ; and they say that if men would cease from
excessive mirth these columns would cease from shedding
t-ars. Other simple-minded men tell one in all good faith
about these columns, that during Christ's passion the
Virgin Mary being filled with sorrow and weeping alone,
thus addressed the columns, 'There is nothing,' said she,
' that shares my grief, and how can I endure to bear such
a weight of bitterness alone ? Weep with me, ye stones/
At these words they began to drip with water. These
columns are perhaps alluded to in Wisdom xi. : ' They
were given water from the depths of the rock, and relief
from thirst from the hard rock,' in Habbakuk ii. ii : 'For
the stone shall cry out of the wall,' and in Job ix. 6 :
' Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars
thereof tremble.' That which I have said above about
these columns I heard from devout and simple Catholics,
and from devout women, at whose piety I should be loth
to scoff, or to despise their zeal. Yet I know full well that
what can be done by natural causes ought not to be
ascribed to miracles : for there is a certain stone, a sort
of marble, called endroson (ivBpoaov), from which water
continually oozes, in whatever part of a building it be
placed, because by its exceeding cold nature it condenses
the air round about it, and turns it into water, as though
in stones which are possessed of the proper qualities it were
3asy to turn water into air by refining it, and air into water
by condensing it, wherefore air which has been made
water on the surface of a stone naturally oozes into
drops as it drips from the stone. Something of the same
kind is said to take place in the old palace at Constanti-
nople, in one room of which there arc marble shells of a

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 359

stone of this same sort, which shells of their own accord
fill themselves with water, and when they are emptied,
become full again without being filled by any man. The
common people look upon this with astonishment, as a
miracle, yet it comes to pass by the operation of nature.
In like manner I believe these columns to be endrosic,
that is, made of stone which is naturally wet and dripping
with water.

In this same chapel there is a stone shell built into the
wall, near the altar, which is meant to contain holy water,
but which is always empty and devoid of holy water.
When a man puts his head into this shell and listens, he
hears a sound like the roaring and crackling of flames of
fire, or like the rushing of many waters, but especially
when a man is alone in the chapel, and desires to hear
this noise, he hears a terrible disturbance, as I myself have
frequently heard. Simple-minded folk when they hear
this noise are much alarmed, and say that beneath it is
purgatory, and that this sound is caused by the infliction
of punishment and by the roars of the torturers ; but I
believe that this noise is caused down here by people
walking about in the church above.

On either side of the stairs are large and lofty caverns
hewn out of the rock, which once were consecrated chapels
with altars (ii4«). They are altogether without light.
It is wondrous to see the piety of the men of old in this
and the like matters. This chapel contains two altars, and
near the greater of the two, on its right-hand side, there is
a stone chair, and near the chair is a window cut through
the rock, through which one can see into the pit wherein
the holy cross was found. They say that when Helena had
found the holy cross, she first built this chapel, and while
she sat in this chair continually cast her eyes through the
window into the cave wherein she had found the cross.

300 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

She sat there constantly, and pointed out to the builders
the shape in which they were to build the church, and
paid the expenses. In one of those darksome chapels was
Iser bed, and there she abode with her maidservants by
fiay and by night until the whole church was finished.
Some call this the chapel of St. James, and say that St.
James, who was the first Bishop of Jerusalem, had his
throne therein ; wherefore they call that chair St. James's
throne. But this is against reason, seeing that in the time
of St. James there was no church there, but only a place
without the city walls, and of ill fame because of its near-
ness to Mount Calvary.

THE CAVE WHEREIN THE HOLY CROSS WAS FOUND BY

ST. HELENA.

From this chapel we again descended by sixteen steps,
which are on the right-hand side, singing the hymn of the
holy cross, and we came into another chapel which is
entirely dark and deprived of daylight, but is lighted
by many lamps. At the foot of that chapel there is a
pit twenty-two feet in length overhung by the rock, in
which pit the sainted Empress Helena found that most
precious treasure, which had lain hidden therein for more
than three hundred years. There she found the three
crosses, the nails, the crown of thorns, the plate on which
the title placed over the cross was written, the iron head
of the lance, with which the heart of Christ was pierced,
the reed with the sponge, and all the instruments which
were made use of in the crucifixion of Christ and of the
two thieves, all of which they had thrown into this place
together with the crosses, regarding them as unclean. We
stood round about this holy cave chanting hymns of praise,
glorifying the cross which was found there; one after

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 361

another we bowed ourselves down and kissed the place,
and received plenary indulgences (ff).

Now in the place where we imprinted our kisses we
perceived a sweet scent which was breathed forth from the
cave, by which odour we were very greatly edified, re-
freshed, and comforted, to think that we had been found
worthy to catch the last relics of that most sweet scent
which breathed forth from that cave when Judas Ouirinus
came upon the cross as he dug, as we read in the account
of the invention of the holy cross.

This place is terrible, and is sunk deep among the rocks.
Now how it came to pass that the crosses were buried so
deep down in the bowels of the earth will be easily seen
by anyone who understands and has read of the position
of the holy city. The ancient city of Jerusalem was
■encircled by a deep chasm on the western side, where the
Lord was crucified, which chasm reached from the south
to the north along the entire length of the city. This
chasm made a natural, not an artificial ditch for the city,
and was formed of craggy rocks opposite to one another
on either side of the chasm. Above the crags and rocks on
the inner margin ran [d] the city wall, and the rocks of the
outer margin stood up as defences for the city. Among
these rocks on the outer margin there was one called
Calvary, and below it was a place called Golgotha. On
Calvary the Lord was crucified together with two others,
and when they were taken down from the crosses, their
■executioners threw the crosses into that chasm, together
with all the other instruments belonging to those who had
been crucified, because Calvary stood on the edge of the
chasm, and they could have done nothing else but draw
the crosses out of the holes in the rock, and throw them
into that pit, even as they were wont to throw other refuse
into it ; whereby the crosses were soon covered, for every

362 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

day they cast down refuse there from the city wall. At
last, when Titus destroyed Jerusalem, in the forty-third
year after Christ's passion, he caused the walls and towers
in that place to be cast down into that chasm, and thus
day by day the crosses became more and more deeply
covered. Seventy-seven years later came the emperor
iElius Hadrianus, who, out of hatred for the Christians,
built on Golgotha a most impure temple wherein he placed
a marble statue of Venus, as we are told by St. Jerome in
his epistle to PauUina, while out of hatred for the Jews
he set up a statue bearing his own likeness in the place
where the Temple of the Lord had once stood, where the
Jews had made an oratory for themselves. As soon as
the emperor's back was turned to the city, the Jews
destroyed the imperial statue. When Hadrian heard this,
he returned, drove out the Jews from the city, destroyed it
down to the very ground, and went his way. Thus for a
second time were the walls cast down into the chasm upon
the crosses. Not long afterwards Csesar returned, rebuilt
the city afresh, and gave orders that the ancient west wall
should be entirely thrown down into the chasm, that the
chasm should be filled up and levelled with the rest of the
ground, that the temple of Venus should be enclosed
within the circuit of the city wall, and the city made so
much larger. Thus it came to pass that this chasm, in
which the holy cross lay for about one hundred and eighty
years, as Jerome . , . tells us, until St Helena came, and
could scarcely find the spot, which had fallen into oblivion*
Wherefore she cleaned out this cavern, and caused it to be
consecrated, and built her own chapel and dwelling above
it, as it is at this day. So we stood in that place, rapt as it
were in admiration of the rocks and stones beneath which
the holy cross was found, for the precipitous rocks over-
hung our heads, and threatened to fall upon us. In this

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 363

holy chasm pilgrims are inspired with great devotion, but
the Eastern Christians and even the Saracens indulge in
vain superstitions about it, and scrape off pieces from these
rocks for medicines, for they declare that one sick of a
fever will be cured straightway if he drink some wine and
water in which a piece of these rocks has been placed.
Moreover when anyone suffers with headache, he forthwith
causes his head to be shaved, and sends the hair which
has been cut off it to the guardians of the temple, that
they may place it upon the spot where the cross was
found ; and when this is done, the patient is cured. So
also do they when one suffers from toothache, for they
then shave his beard off and send the hair to the cave, that
he may be healed. . . . Hence it comes to pass that all
the crannies in the rocks and between the stones are
stuffed full of hair. There can be no doubt that this
profane rite has been handed down to them from the
idolaters of old times. Diodorus, in the fourth chapter of
his second book of ancient history, tells us that the
Egyptians of old when they were making vows to their
gods for the safety or cure of sick people, used to shave
off their hair, and put it into gold or silver vessels, which
they sent to those who ministered to the idols in their
temples, and they were healed. Thus do these wicked
men even at the present day. Behind the place of the
invention of the holy cross [115 «] there is a deep hole in
the rock, which is full of men's hair and beards. And
albeit the Saracens and Turks are unbelievers, natheless
they use that place and Calvary for their superstitions.
In this cave is an admirable echo, the like of which I have
not heard in any choir or church ; wherefore when I have
been there alone I have often sung in a full and loud voice
the antiphons relating to the invention of the holy cross
and other hymns.

364 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

THE MOST HOLY MOUNT CALVARY, WHEREON THE LORD
JESUS HUNG UPON THE CROSS.

After we had finished all that was to be done in the holy-
cave we presently came up again and re-entered the church
through the door. As we resumed our procession the
precentor began in a loud voice to sing the hymn Vexilla
regis pj-odeunt, etc. Singing this we came to the way up
to the most holy Mount Calvary, up which we went by
eighteen stone steps from the church below it. Above
we entered a light, beauteous chapel, adorned with polished
and variegated marble, and wherein there hung many
lighted lamps. In it stood three altars, adorned with
paintings done in mosaic work. This chapel is built of
vaulted work, supported by a marble column in the midst
of the building. On the under side of the vault are
paintings of David and Solomon, David with the text
Qui edebat panes meos uiagnific^ etc., and Solomon with
the text Sapieiitia cBdificavit sibi domtim,^ and a picture
of the sacrifice of Isaac. This chapel is built above the
Mount Calvary. When we were all come into it, and now
before our eyes was displayed that wondrous stone, that
desirable rock, with its admirable socket-hole wherein the
most holy cross bearing the Crucified One was inserted —
when we beheld these things, scared and bewildered at
their exceeding great holiness, we fell down upon our faces
on the earth, and one heard no longer psalmody, but
lamentation ; no longer the singing of hymns, but wailings
and groans. No one was there who could withhold himself
fron-. tears and cries ; for who could have so hard a heart
that it would not be rent in that place, where he beheld
before his eyes the hardest rock to have been rent .'' Who
would not even weep aloud in the place where Christ our

1 Ps. xli. 9. 2 Prov. ix. I.

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 365

God cried with a loud voice as He hung upon the cross ;
where hkewise He prayed for those who had crucified
Him, promised Paradise to the thief, commended His
deeply-sorrowing mother to the care of John, and drank
the vinegar mingled with gall ; when He said that all was
finished, yielded up His spirit into the hands of the Father,
and breathed His last ; where the soldier pierced His side
with his lance, and there came forth blood and water. Lo,
devout pilgrim, it was here that Abel was slain by his
brother, Isaac was bound for sacrifice by his father, the
brazen serpent was set up by Moses, the paschal lamb was
slain according to the Law, God was slain by man, Jesus
was crucified in the flesh, thy King was hung upon the
cross, thy Lord was condemned to death, the meek and
lowly and innocent was drenched with blood, offering
Himself both as priest and as victim. These thoughts
and others of the like nature occurred to our minds at this
most solemn place, and we remained for a long time bowed
to the earth in prayer. When we had finished our prayer
we went one after another to the holy rock, which projects
above the floor, and each one [d] as best he could crawled
to the socket-hole of the cross, kissed the place with
exceeding great devotion, and placed his face, eyes, and
mouth over the socket-hole, from whence in very truth
there breathes forth an exceeding sweet scent, whereby
men are visibly refreshed. We put our arms and our
hands into the hole down to the very bottom : and by
these acts we received plenary indulgences ("f""f).

On the left hand side of the socket-hole is a great rent
in the rock, from the top to the bottom, which is believed
to have been made at Christ's death. We went up to this
rent one after another, and kissed it, putting our heads into
it and as much of our bodies as we could. Moreover on
either side of the holy socket there are two other sockets.

366 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

in which the crosses of the two thieves, Dysmas and
Gesmas, who were crucified together with Jesus, were
placed ; but these sockets cannot be seen, because upon
them stand low pillars, upon whose heads there are iron
spikes, upon which wax candles and lights are stuck,
so that these pillars are as it were candlesticks. Howbeit,
we kissed the pillar which stood at the right hand of the
cross. About these crosses see above, page 6y a.

On the wall behind the holy rock is a new picture, very
precious, of the Crucified One, the blessed Virgin, and
St. John the Evangelist. We were on the Mount Calvary
with our procession for more than an hour, giving ourselves
up to prayer and devotion, and night came on, it being
about the ninth hour, before midnight. Nicholas de Cusa
tells us about the rending of the rock itself in his ' Per-
suasio ad Soldamnn^ in Book III., chapter xvii. of his
edition of the Coran.

THE DESCRIPTION OF MOUNT CALVARY AND OF ITS
ARRANGEMENT. (See page 130, and page 264.)

The place Calvary is not called a mount in Scripture,
but it is only common talk which speaks of it as a mount,
since in truth it is not a mount, but a rock or crag, some-
what raised above the ground, and yet the mount Calvary
has not this distinction, as may be clearly seen in the
figure. The rock, mount, and place was from the begin-
ning very worthy of respect, because

Adam, our first parent, died here ;

Abraham was blessed here by Melchisedech ;

Isaac was brought hither by his father to be
sacrificed ;

The brazen serpent was set up here ;

The Lord Jesus was crucified and died here.

BROTHER FELIX FABRL 367

Not that the Mount Calvary contains a large part of the
city. The place Calvary means the entire site of the church.
The rock of Calvary supports the cross alone. Now before
the enlargement of the city this crag stood opposite to the
city wall, on the brink of a deep cleft which encircled the
city on the western side, as I have said before on page
1 14 a, b. It was not far from the city wall, because the
cleft itself, though deep, was not so wide, but that a man
could throw a stone from the city wall as far as the crag of
Calvary. How great this crag may have been, cannot well
be ascertained, but this much is clear, from the form of the
church itself, that it was once larger than it now is, because
when it was enclosed within the new wall it was necessary
to cut away a part of it. Now, although that rock was
near the wall, as I have said, yet it was a long way round
to it from the pavement, where the Lord took up the cross,
to the Gate of Judgment, and from the gate crossing over
the ravine by the bridge to the rock, which rock did not stand
exactly opposite to the bridge, but a considerable distance
away from it, so that one had to turn up along the edge of
the ravine. Here stood the crag on the edge of the ravine
in such a posture, that the Lord, when crucified thereon,
had His back turned to the east and towards the city, but
turned His face towards the west. Whether the Lord
was crucified on the top of the crag, or [116^:] lower down,
may well be doubted, because on account of the buildings
on the site one cannot tell how wide the rock was at the
top. I believe that the Lord was nailed to the cross at the
foot of the crag, and that when He was fastened thereon,
they dragged Him and the cross together up to the top,
and there fixed the cross in the rock.

The place of Calvary was worthy of honour from ancient
times before the crucifixion of Christ. In it was found
the hairless skull of Adam, from which the place was

368 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

called Calvary, or Calvary and Golgotha, which is the
same thing. The Jews venerated this place from ancient
times, because they believe that in it Abraham made
ready to sacrifice his son Isaac as we are told (in Scrip-
ture), Wherefore here is believed to have been one of the
high places wherein the people used to offer sacrifice,
and even built a temple, for which they are often reproved
in the books of the Kings, where it is said, even of pious
kings, * He did that which was good in the sight of the
Lord, nevertheless he took not away the high places, for
the people still offered sacrifice upon the high places.'
For there were certain places in the Holy Land in which
some memorable acts have been done by the Lord, and in
which, before the building of the temple, the Lord used to
be worshipped, which, after the building of the temple,
was forbidden to be done. Of these places were Shiioh,
and Gilgal, and the Mount of Olives, and the place of
Calvary. Upon this high place in particular the people
used to offer sacrifice beyond measure, because upon it was
set up the brazen serpent whereof we read in the twenty-
first chapter of Numbers ; which serpent was greatly
worshipped by the people up to the time of King
'Hezekiah, who brake it to pieces, as is told in the eighteenth
chapter of the second book of Kings.

The ancients respected this place because it was here
that Melchisedech met Abraham and offered him bread
and wine : and here is the centre of the world, all of which
matter will presently be explained.

Now when the Jews had lost their kingdom, and were
governed by foreign-born Gentile kings, who hated them,
these kings, to spite the Jews, turned the place of Calvary
and Golgotha into a place for the punishment of evildoers,
in which thieves, robbers, murderers and blasphemers were
punished and put to death, in order that they might make

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 369

the place abominable to the Jews out of scorn for them,
and the place continued to be held in scorn up to the time
■of Christ, after whose resurrection and ascension the. place
began to be respected and worshipped by Christians. But
the idolatrous emperor ^lius Hadrianus would not suffer
this, but built a temple of Venus there, set up the statue of
an harlot on the rock of Calvary, and thus cast dishonour
upon the place, making it odious to Christians, as Jerome
tells us in his epistle to Paullina. Thus it remained
abominable to Christians for one hundred and eighty years,
until St. Helena came, cleared away all the rubbish by
which the place was defiled, and wondrously beautified it,
^s will be shown in my account of the church. As touch-
ing this mount, see below, pages 130, 255. See also
,St. Bernard's sermon to the Knights Templars, chapter x.

THE PLACE WHERE CHRIST WAS NAILED TO THE CROSS,
AND WHERE ADAM'S HEAD WAS FOUND, AND THE
RENDING OF THE ROCK.

After we had kissed the holy rock we descended again
in procession to the floor of the church, and entered a
chapel which is underneath the chapel of Mount Calvary,
and from which rises the rock of the cross of Christ, which
rock rises up even into the chapel above. In this place
we fell upon the earth and kissed it with great devotion,
adoring Jesus upon the cross, upon which He was nailed
in that place. For if the rock were there as it is at this
day, Christ could not have been nailed to the cross upon
it, but at its foot, and this must needs have been [b'\ the
place of the nailing to the cross, albeit on this matter there
is no text of Scripture or certain proof, except that the
shape of the ground appears to prove it. In this place we
recalled to our memories the shameful stripping of Christ,
iiovv they stripped Him here and robbed Him of all His

24

370 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

garments, how by the taking off of His garments the

wounds caused by His scourging were torn open for the

second time, and how when He was naked He sat on the

ground bowed down both out of shame because He was

entirely naked, and out of weakness, because He was

covered with wounds. When the cross was ready, and

His crucifiers were about to drag Him on to it, He

gathered strength to rise, and, bending His knees before

the cross, prayed, saying, ' Eternal Father, receive Me Thy

beloved Son, whom I offer Thee as a spotless sacrifice for

the salvation of mankind for the remission of sins.' Having

spoken thus He readily gave Himself up to the hands of

His crucifiers, who cast Him down upon the cross and

cruelly stretched Him out thereon. Seeing this His most

sorrowful mother ran up and brought a veil to cover her

Son's middle, wherewith He remained covered. The place

where the blessed Virgin and John stood at the foot of

the cross is near this place, although the entrance to it is

outside the church, as will be shown in its place. This

also is to my mind a proof that Christ was nailed to the

cross down below, and was raised above the rock together

with the cross, amid the noisy scofifings of the Jews,

After we had kissed the place wherein I imagine that
Christ was nailed to the cross, we went on our way towards
an altar which is built against the rock of Calvary, on the
right hand side of which we saw the rent in the rock,
which reaches from the top of it quite down to the earth.
In this same place, Adam, our first parent, according to
many authorities, died and was buried. There is no con-
tradiction to this in what is said in the fourteenth chapter
of the Book of Joshua, that Adam was buried in Hebron
among the children of Anak, that is, among the giants,
because it is said in the Supplement to the Chronicles that
Adam died and was buried on Mount Calvary, and that
afterwards his body, all save the head, was translated to

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. ' 371

Hebron, to the double cave there. The head of Adam
was found a long time afterwards on Mount Calvary. For
this reason painters are wont to draw a human skull at
the foot of the cross. Wherefore Ambrose and Athanasius,
Chrysostom and Jerome in his epistle to Marcella, and in
many other places, and the Hebrew doctors declare that
Adam^ sinned here, and was buried here, to the end that
Christ might expose his own body in the place where
the human race became corrupted, and that incorruption
might arise from the place where corruption was sown.
Thus Antonius, St. Jerome also, often says the same
thing : howbeit, in one place he says that to say that
Adam was buried there is a smooth saying, and meant to
please the ears. So we kissed the place of the rending of
the rock, and the burial-place of our father Adam.

Moreover the Eastern Christians say in this place was
buried Melchisedech, the first priest of Jerusalem, of
whom we read in the fourteenth chapter of Genesis, and
in the hundred and tenth Psalm. But this is not received
by the Latin and Western Church, because of the Apostle's
words in the seventh chapter of the Epistle to the
Hebrews, where it is said that Melchisedech had no father,
no mother, no lineage, and no beginning of his days, or
end to his life. This, however, must not be taken to mean
that Melchisedech was never born and never died, or that
he existed without parents, as the Melchisedechian heretics
declare, who say that he was not a man, as . . . but it
must be taken to mean that he did indeed have parents,
and a beginning and an end to his life, but that no one
could ever find this out, because he was a type of the
eternal priesthood of Christ. Wherefore Jerome in his
Epistle to Evagrius^ wonderfully inveighs against those
who say that Melchisedech was not a man, but a son of

^ See Willis, Church of ihe Holy Sepulchre, p. 163. = Evangelus (?).

24 — 2

372 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

God or an angel. Those who say this are held by the
Church to be Melchisedechian heretics.

In this chapel are buried the Latin kings,^ who [iiy a\
with great valour and exceeding great toil brought back
the Holy Land into the hands of the Christians and con-
quered it, and harassed the Saracens beyond measure, so
that it is a wonder that they do not pull down the church
because of theJr bodies. The kings who are buried here
are the following : First, King Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke
of Lorraine, who, after the taking of Jerusalem in the year
of our Lord, 1096,- was elected King of Jerusalem by the
whole of the princes of the West, and who on his death
was buried here in the church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Second, King Baldwin (L). Third, King Baldwin {11).
Fourth, Fulke. Fifth, Baldwin (HL). Sixth, Amalric.
Seventh, Baldwin (IV.). Eighth, Baldwin (V.). Ninth,
Guy. This last king was a coward, and neglected the holy
city and the kingdom of Jerusalem. The Lord Bertrand,^
Count of Tripoli, revolted against him, albeit he also was
a Catholic. Now as King Guy was powerful, and Bertrand
could not conquer him by means of his own people, he
called the Soldan, the King of Egypt, to help him against
the King of Jerusalem, made an alliance with the Saracens,
and thus conquered Guy. But the Saracens and heathen
peoples, seeing the dissent of the kingdom, and that the
Christians were divided amongst themselves, banded them-
selves together, and took the holy city, from whence they
cast out the Christians, and consequently the Christians
lost the entire Holy Land. The afore-mentioned kings
reigned eighty-eight years and nineteen days in Jerusalem,
and their kingdom passed away and was joined to the
kingdom of Egypt, as it is at this day.

See how far I have wandered away from my subject ;

* See the Appendix to ' Theoderich ' in this series.
2 1099. 3 Raymond.

BROTHER FELIX FABRl. 373

but I will now return to it. The aforesaid chapel beneath
Mount Calvary belongs to the Nubian Christians, who
conduct their services therein, and say that King Melchior,^
one of the three magi of whom we read in the second
chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, was a King of Nubia,
and that when he came from Nubia and had drawn nigh to
Jerusalem, he would not enter the city, but was entertained
near Mount Calvary, and that therefore this place has
been assigned to them from old times. When we had
finished the processional service and received indul-
gences (f), we left this chapel.

THE PLACE WHERE CHRIST'S BODY WAS ANOINTED AND
WRAPPED IN LINEN CLOTHS.

When we were come out of that chapel we walked some
nine steps further in procession, singing the hymn of
Christ's passion, Pange lingua gloriosi prcslium certaminis,
and came to the place where there lies on the floor of the
church a black stone, sprinkled with some red spots, and
well polished, which stone is said to have been there at the
time of Christ's passion, hard by the sepulchre of Joseph
of Arimathea ; for the Jews wash their dead, and lay the
body upon a table either of wood or of stone, and there
perform the usual services of washing and anointing.
Now Joseph, who had hewn a sepulchre for himself out of
the rock at that place, had likewise caused a polished
marble table to be made for himself, whereon his body
might be washed and anointed. But as he gave up his
own sepulchre to Christ, even so did he with his stone of
unction. So when Joseph and Nicodemus and those who
helped them had loosed Christ's body from the cross, they
bore him hither, and laid Him naked upon this holy stone,
where they anointed His wounds with unguents, and
wrapped Him in linen cloths [.^j. At these funeral ser-
* See the description of the I^Iount of Olives, p. 148(1, b.

1

374 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

vices the most glorious and most sorrowful Mary was
present, sitting and holding the wounded head of her Son
in her lap, and binding it up with a napkin, while Mary
Magdalen most carefully anointed those sacred feet which
she had once anointed in life, and, as their work needed it,
they rolled his most precious body upon this stone. On
this most sacred stone I, alas, stood in ignorance, as has been
told above, on page 109 a, b. We ranged ourselves round
about this stone in procession, and when we had finished
singing we all one after another knelt and kissed it, and
received plenary indulgences (f t)* From this place they
carried the body of the Lord to the sepulchre, which is
about fifty paces distant from it. Above this place there
is a cord stretched from one wall to the other, from which
hang many lighted lamps. After the procession they laid
a table upon this stone, and anyone who chose celebrated
Mass thereon.

THE PLACE WHERE THE CENTRAL POINT OF THE WHOLE
WORLD IS SAID TO BE.

When we had visited all the holy places before we
entered the Lord's sepulchre we marched in procession,
swerving aside from the path by which the body of the
Lord Jesus was carried to the sepulchre, and entered the
church of Golgotha, which is the choir of the entire build-
ing. HerCj when we were come to the middle of the choir,
we halted round about a stone which is round, and raised
above the other stones of the pavement, in the midst
whereof is a round hole, into which a man could put his
fist, that is to say, his clenched hand. They say that this
stone lies in the central point of the whole world, and the
Eastern Christians say that the Lord Jesus, before His
passion, stood here with His disciples, and pointed to this
spot with His finger, saying, ' Lo, here is the middle of
the world.' Ancient histories also tell us that before the

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 375

building of this temple a tall marble pillar was set up
in this place by philosophers, which pillar at the summer
equinox threw no shadow at mid-day, as the sun stood
directly over it. A certain knight who was a pilgrim in
my company wished to prove this by experiment, and
having obtained leave from the Lord Sabathytanco, the
master of the hospice, who was called the Chief Calinus, he
ascended with some of his comrades above the vaulted
roof of the choir, which vaulted roof is very lofty and has
steps by which it can be ascended. On the topmost part
•of the roof is a high place cunningly built of stone,
■whereon a man may stand without peril and look round
about him. To this place that knight ascended at mid-
day, to see whether his body would cast any shadow. He
declared to us that in very truth he saw no shadow pro-
ceeding from his body, for he stood directly above that
place round which we stood, because the dome is so built
as to stand above that place, in order that the experiment
may be made there. But I do not see that the fact that
the sun shines at mid-day so directly above men's heads
that their bodies cast no shadow is any true and certain
proof that the spot where it does so is the middle of the
world, for I have read in several books about many places
where at certain times men's bodies cast no shadov/, as we
are told by Dionysius in his third book of * Antiquities ' of
this sort, about a certain island which lies in the ocean
towards the southward, wherein about mid-day no object
whatever casts any shadow, because the sun is straight
overhead : and yet this island is a very long way from
Jerusalem. Also Peter de Abano.i Conciliator, in his book
about learning, etc., page 6y, says that the same thing takes

^ A well-known writer of the JNIiddle Ages, a philosopher and
physician of Padua, called ' Conciliator,' because he wrote a treatise
reconciling the existing systems of philosophy. He also wrote on
poisons, natural magic, etc

376 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

place in the city of Athens, where he himself has proved it
by experiment. At the city of Syene, too, upon the Nile,
the same thing is said to happen when the sun is in the
summer tropic. Ptolemy, too, in his third and fourth map
of Africa brings in many regions where the noonday sun
stands directly overhead : and what is more than this, in
the same map many places are noted where twice in the
year the sun stands overhead without casting any shadow.
For example there are many places in Asia, as may be
seen in the sixth map, in the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and
twelfth : and it is well known that these places are not
the middle of the world. Many have held a certain island
to be the middle of the world, in which island the noonday
sun always fails to cast a shadow. Howbeit, the opinion
of the vulgar is that any place is the middle of the world,
because they believe that mankind are spread all round
about the world, and stand with their feet the opposite
way to ours, so that each man has his own zenith, and each
man treads with his feet upon what to him is the middle of
this globe or world. But Augustine in his treatise ' De
Civitate Dei,' Book XVI., chapter ix., altogether denies
the existence of any antipodes, because neither Scripture,
history, nor experience, teaches us to believe in them,
and it is impossible to reach the other side of the globe
because of the vast extent of the ocean, which it is
impossible for any of our shipping to traverse. See about
these matters in the * Speculum Naturae,' Book VII.,
chapter x. But the infallible truth of Holy Scripture
proves by its testimonies that Jerusalem is in the middle of
th-2 world. However, many say that Jerusalem is indeed
the middle of the habitable world, but is not in the
middle of the entire scheme of the universe. Whichever of
these opinions is true, we must believe the Holy Scripture,
which declares that Jerusalem lies in the midst of the

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 377

earth, and tells us that our Saviour worked out our
salvation in the midst of the earth. Wherefore in the
first place Ezekiel in his fifth chapter says, 'This [ii8<a:] is
Jerusalem ; I have set it in the midst of the nations and
countries that are round about her.' Secondly, in the
74th Psalm we read, ' He hath wrought his salvation in
the midst of the earth.' Wherefore Hilarius says, 'The
place where the cross stood is, as it were, a point in the
centre of the earth, in order that all men might have
equal opportunities of obtaining knowledge of God.' For
the place where the cross was set up, and the rock, stand
to the right hand of this central point, and from it there is
a door in the choir leading up to Mount Calvary. As
then Christ is the central person in the Trinity, and
the Mediator between God and man, as He holds the
middle position in the scheme of the Redemption of the
world, even so He chose the middle point of the world
and set up His cross in the same. There appears to be an
allusion to this in Genesis ii. : ' The tree of life also in the
midst of the garden,' meaning ' the cross of Christ in the
midst of the world.' Moreover in Deut. vii. 21 : 'The
Lord thy God is among you.' And of the church of the
Holy Sepulchre it is said in Leviticus xxvi. 1 1 : ' I will set
my tabernacle among you,' that is, ' I will set up the
temple of My sepulchre in the midst of the world.'

So in this place we rejoiced with exceeding great joy,
that we had come from the uttermost parts of the earth
to the middle thereof safe and sound, and after we had
offered praises to God we received indulgences (f).

THE PLACE WHERE THE HOLY WOMEN SAW THE STONE
ROLLED AWAY FROM THE SEPULCPIRE.

When we departed from this place, and from the church
of Golgotha, we par.sed out again by the door through

A

3/8

THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

which we came in, into the church cf the Holy Sepulchre,
and came to the place where the three Maries, when they
came to anoint Jesus, saw rolled away from the mouth of
the sepulchre that stone about which they had been
anxious on their way, saying, 'Who will roll away the
stone for us from the mouth of the sepulchre ?' and when
they looked they found that it was rolled away. We
entered into this place and bowed ourselves to the earth,
kissed it, and received indulgences (f).

Be it noted, that wherever this drawing or symbol of the

holy sepulchre occurs, and as many times as you find it, so

many times you may know that I watched throughout the

night in the church of the holy sepulchre during my second

pilgrimage. During my first I passed three nights

therein.

F.F.F.F.F.

\o\

p%

l\

VA

A

0
0
0

0 0 0*00

HO^Y THE PILGRIMS CAME INTO THE MOST HOLY
SEPULCHRE OF THE LORD JESUS.

Rouse up yourselves ncv.-, my lords and brother pilgrims,
arise and hurry onward with a swifter pace, but come not
save in a cheerful mood. Lay aside all sorrow, wipe away

BROTHER FELIX FABRl. 379

the tears from your eyes, refrain from lamentations, and all
together sing that sweet Easter song Alleluia : for after
the gloomy Jewish Sabbaths a genial light has shined
forth upon the word from the squalid and darksome
sepulchre which we are about to enter : for the world
has received far brighter light from thence than from the
glimmering bodies in the firmament. Come then with
joy and praise, look upon the place where the Lord was
laid, and behold the end of your pilgrimage. So hereupon
the precentor in a pleasant and che.-;rful voice began the
paschal hymn, Ad cceiiam agni providi, etc., and we
walked on in procession chanting it, and came to the most
precious sepulchre of the Lord Jesus, before which we rang
out our Easter hymns with many an Alleluia, with as
great, or it may be with even greater joy than if we had
reached happy Easter day after a sad and toilsome Lent.
For as on Mount Calvary we pitied our Lord Christ, and
shed tears, so here we rejoiced with our Redeemer, and
offered to him sweet tears of joy and lively songs : and
rightly so ; for Jesus our Saviour after His tears and
sorrow, after His mockings and scourgings, after His cups
of vinegar and gall, after His torture and wounds upon the
cross, after His terrible death itself, after His piteous burial,
after He had descended into the everlasting shades of hell,
after He had broken the iron bars, after He had bound
the prince of darkness, and set free all the chosen patri-
archs, rose glorious and triumphant from this tomb we
now behold, from this darksom.e cave, there shone forth so
bright a light, there darted forth so brilliant a ray, there
gleamed such snowy whiteness, there became such blessed
peace, there came forth such happiness, there breathed
forth such salvation as made earth, sea and sky to rejoice
together. In this sepulchre, in this tiny hut did the eagle
renew its youth, the lion roused up its cub, the phcenix

38o THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

renewed its life, Jonah came forth unharmed from the
whale's belly, the candlestick was clad with gold, the
tabernacle of David which had fallen down was set up
again, the sun shone forth after being behind a cloud,
the grain of wheat which had fallen into the earth and
died became quickened, the stag again put forth his horns,
Samson bore away the gates and broke through his guards,
Joseph was brought forth from prison, shaved, gaily dressed,
and made lord of Egypt. The sack- cloth of Christ Jesus
was cut away ; He was clothed with gladness, and besides
all this, our toilsome pilgrimage, our weary wanderings are
here ended and brought to rest. Here, then, I pray you,
let us lay aside our pious plaints of sorrow, our clouds
of grief, [119 a] and let us draw a quiet breath in happi-
ness : let us who have followed our Redeemer to His
tomb with sorrow, now take part in the joy of His glorious
resurrection. Come, then, gather yourselves together,
knights and kindly pilgrims, enter the most holy sepulchre
and see with your eyes, feel with your hands, touch with
your mouth the place where the Lord lay. So we joyously
went in, one after another, into the most precious sepulchre
of the Lord Jesus, kissed the most holy bier, and received
entire and plenary indulgences (ft) ^o^ all sins. We were
indeed filled with an especial joy here, greater than what
we felt at the other holy places. Thus St. Bernard in
the second chapter of his sermon to the Knights Templars
says that the sepulchre hath a's it were the pre-eminence
among the holy and desirable places, and that something
more of devotion is felt at the place where He lay at rest
than at those where He moved about in life. Thus, too,
the remembrance of His death excites our piety more than
that of His life : I suppose because His death was cruel,
while His life was pleasant by comparison, and because
our human weakness is more attracted by the repose of

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 381

sleeping than the toil of living among men, more by
the safety of death than by righteousness of life. The
life of Christ is to me a rule by which to live, His death is
my redemption from death. Here we received spiritual
refreshment and indulgences, and passed out with joyous
thanksgiving, and thus our procession came to an end
one hour before midnight. (The description of the holy
sepulchre appears on page 124(5.) When the procession
was over the pilgrims drevi^ together according to their
several companies, into the various corners of the church,
each company sitting in its own place, for we were wearied
and worn out, and we made a sober meal. After we had
eaten we leaned our heads against the wall for a short rest,
and lay asleep upon the pavement. I myself abode with
the brethren of Mount Sion in the chapel of the blessed
Virgin, who had given me a quiet place to sleep in, but
I could by no means close my eyes to sleep. Wherefore I
arose straightway, lit my candle, and joined the watchers
at the holy places : for indeed the greater part of the
pilgrims were wandering about all the aforesaid holy
places as each one pleased, passing hither and thither as
the spirit of prayer moved them : for a pilgrim may enter
the Holy Sepulchre, ascend the Mount Calvary, or descend
into the chapel of the Invention of the Cross, and the
other places as often as he pleases. In these solitary
visits to the holy places men feel greater devotion and
abstraction from the world than when they do so in the
general procession, in which there is much pushing and
disorder, and disturbance, and singing, and weeping,
whereas in the other case there is silence and peace. As I
went the round of the places for the second time, I went
down to the place of the Invention of the Cross, and there
read my matins. I took great delight in that underground
place, because it was quiet and suited to me, for the

382 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

Mount Calvary and the Lord's sepulchre, and the other
places up above were filled with an unbroken throng of
pilgrims, and very noisy. Meanwhile some of my lords
and their servants were running to and fro in the church
above me, hunting in every corner, seeking for me to hear
their confessions, and never guessed me to be in that
place. At last they came down to where I was, and
I heard them there, sitting in the chair of St. Helena,
whereof I have already made mention on page 1 14 a.

ABOUT DIVINE SERVICE IN THE HOLY SEPULCHRE^ THE
WAY IN WHICH IT IS CELEBRATED, AND THE ORDER
THEREOF.

When it was midnight, the sacrist ran about the church
with a wooden plank, and very noisily gave the signal for
morning prayers. When I heard this, I straightway
ascended, appointed for those whose {])] confession I had
not yet heard another time at which I would hear them,
and entered the sacristy, which adjoins the chapel of the
Blessed Virgin, where I vested myself for the celebration
of Mass (for this church, like that of Bethlehem, has the
privilege that Masses may be said in it even at midnight).
When I was ready 1 came forth, went into the most holy
sepulchre of our Lord, where I was the first to obtain a
place wherein to say Mass undisturbed, and there I most
pleasantly celebrated the Mass for the Lord's Resurrection.
After my Mass I administered the sacrament to several
noblemen in the holy sepulchre itself, by permission of the
Father Guardian. After me other priests came to cele-
brate Mass, both in the holy sepulchre and in three other
places, as I have told you on page 110 a, under the sixth
head.

However, the greatest struggle among the priests is to

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 38S

say Mass at the holy sepulchre, especially when many
priests are present ; for they stand outside the sepulchre
and wait for the one who is celebrating to finish, and as
soon as he leaves the altar, another straightway runs up to
it, and while he who has been celebrating disrobes himself,
six or more priests stand round him, all struggling to
obtain his sacred vestments, and when he takes off his
surplice, all the six or more lay hold of it and pull at it,
and use such offensive words one to another that they all
but come to blows. I have seen priests striving thus one
with another who waxed so wroth that one said to the
other, ' Give up the surplice to me.' Another on the
opposite side of it said, ' I will keep hold of it ; you are
not worthy to go before me.' The other answered, ' You
are not worthy to celebrate Mass at all ; I go before you
because I am worthier than you.' And with this they went
so far as even to use vile and disgraceful language and
curses, while they dragged at the surplice as though they
would tear it asunder. Lo, whoever heard a more un-
reasonable dispute ! What folly, what rash presumption,
what blindness ! I opine that men who can wrangle thus
must have a blind, foolish sort of piety, execrable alike to
God and to man, and that it is incomparably better for such
men to refrain themselves — nay, better were it for them
never to have seen Jerusalem, than that they should thus
blindly meddle with sacred things. I vigorously joined
my expression of sorrow to that of the laymen who were
present, and who were looking on greatly scandalized at
this scene. Perhaps from my want of piety I did not feel
such interest in the saying of Mass as they did, and I
would rather have left Jerusalem without celebrating than
I would have fought for a place. Yet both in my first
and my second pilgrimage I always got a place without
any dispute, even at the spots which are most sought

i

384 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

after. I have seen some others who did not indeed
struggle or dispute, but rushed in and laid hold of the
surplice for themselves by main force so impatiently and
masterfully that no one dared to oppose them. Such men
I hold to be worse priests and more presumptuous even
than those who dispute. All this arises from want of
order, because the matter is not reduced to any system.
On my first pilgrimage there were many priests, and few
laymen, and the matter was not subject to any rules, so
that many disputes of this kind took place. On my
second pilgrimage there were few priests and many lay-
men, and the Father Guardian, who was a wise man, had
arranged everything very well, so that the ceremony was
performed in peace.

The reasons why the priests are in such a hurry and
strive one wjth another for a place, are various. One of
them is the frenzy of devotion which men feel at the holy
places, which becomes so great as to produce unbridled
zeal, especially among those who have no discretion or
piety, [120 «] for such men are always afraid that they
will not be allowed time for the full indulgence of their
devotions. Another is, that many priests have made a
vow that they will celebrate one or two Masses in the holy
sepulchre, and so they strive and struggle that they may
fulfil their vow. Another reason is that many come thither
who are sent by others, who cannot themselves fulfil their
vow of pilgrimage thither. When they send these men
in their place they entrust them with the saying of so
many Masses in the Holy Sepulchre, and exact oaths from
them and pay their expenses ; wherefore these men are
afraid lest they perjure themselves, and so they hurry and
quarrel. Another reason is that they wish when they
return to their own country to be able to say with truth,
* I celebrated Mass in the Holy Sepulchre,' and it seems to

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 385

them, if they could not get a place, that it would be a
shame to them and a scandal that they should so depart
from Jerusalem. Another reason is that sometimes some
of the knights who are present give a priest a ducat to
celebrate a Mass for them in the holy sepulchre, and these
priests scuffle very vigorously. Moreover, some priests
have been charged by their superior prelates to celebrate
so many Masses in the holy sepulchre ; and some when
they leave those dear to them promise them that they will
say Mass in the Lord's sepulchre for them. All these
classes of men eagerly struggle for a place. Another
cause is perhaps a superstitious one ; for it is said that
every Mass which is said in the Lord's sepulchre does in
truth set free a soul from purgatory. The same thing is
said of Masses said in the Catacombs at Rome, and that
more especially those souls are freed on behalf of whom
the celebrating priest says the Mass. Those who believe
this are in a prodigious hurry, and injure themselves,
offend their brethren, and are a scandal to laymen in their
eagerness to help these souls. Another reason is that
some believe that Masses said in the holy sepulchre are
more efficacious both for the celebrant and for other
persons, whether dead or alive, and more likely to obtain
grace. Another cause is the covetousness and irreverence
of some men, who will not give way to any man, but always
push for the first place^ because they know not how to wait
in patience. There is another reason, which perhaps is the
first as well as the last : it is, that the pilgrims know well
that they are not allowed to pass more than three nights
in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and that they have
not time for more than three Masses, wherefore each man
struggles to be the first to get his Mass said in the holy
sepulchre, and will not rest until he has said it, because he
fears that time will fail him, as it often docs fail many,

25

386 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

who depart in sorrow without having said a Mass in
the holy sepulchre. So, as aforesaid, we celebrated our
Masses, and at sunrise the sacristan again ran round the
whole church with his wooden board, and gave the signal
for the celebration of High Mass at prime and tierce on
the Mount Calvary. So we all went up into the holy
mount, and the Father Guardian with his attendants,
dressed in their sacred vestments, came up to the altar,
and the precentor began the service of the Holy Cross
with the prayer, Nos aicteiii gloriari, and we all took part in
the service with loud voices. After the service my lords
the knights and all the lay pilgrims received the sacrament
[i2i«] with great piety, and the service lasted until the
hour of eight in the morning. At the very instant when
we had finished, the Saracens came to turn us out.

THE DRIVING OUT OF THE PILGRIMS FROM THE HOLY
SEPULCHRE, AND THEIR VISIT TO THOSE PLACES
ROUND ABOUT THE CHURCH TO WHICH INDUL-
GENCES ARE ATTACHED.

After we had finished our services and Masses there
came the pagan Moorish lords, who threw open the gates
of the church, making a great noise with the doors, that
we might go forth more quickly. On hearing this we
were frightened and disturbed at our separation from such
delightful places, and we ran round from one holy place to
another, kissing them ; but as the pilgrims delayed their
going by acting thus, the Moors became angry, banged
the doors of the church so violently that the hinges
creaked, and ran about with frightful yells among the
holy places, from which they drove the pilgrims by force,
and turned every one of us out of the church, except only
the usual guardians. When they had turned us out they
shut the church doors and went their way, leaving us in

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 387

the courtyard outside. There we addressed ourselves to
the visiting of certain holy places near to the church.

THE PLACE WHERE THE VIRGIN MARY AMD JOHN THE
EVANGELIST STOOD BY THE FOOT OF THE CROSS OF
JESUS, WHEN HE COMMENDED THEM TO THE CARE
OF ONE ANOTHER.

First then on leaving the door of the church we turned
to the right, where against the wall of the church there is a
stair of stone steps leading up to IMount Calvary. At the
top of these steps there was once a door through which one
could pass to the rock of Calvary, but this door has now
been built up by the Saracens. Under these steps there is
a door through which one enters a chapel which is within
the walls of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but which is
surrounded by a wall on the inside, so that no one can
enter the church through it, because the Saracens have
built up its inner door also. In this chapel is the place
where the most blessed Virgin Mary and St. John the
Evangelist stood beneath the cross, at the foot of the rock
of Calvary, when the Lord Jesus saw them both, and
commended John to the care of His mother, and His
mother to the care of His disciple. In this holy place we
bowed ourselves to the earth and lay prostrate there, and
received indulgences (-f-).

This place belongs to the Indians, who conduct their
services there.

In this place we reflected upon the immeasurable sorrow
of the blessed Virgin, because we knew that she there suffered
all the pangs of every bodily suffering. All the cruelties
which were exercised upon the bodies of the martyrs were
trifling, or rather were even as nothing, in respect of her
agony, whose measureless extent did indeed pierce the
very innermost recesses of her kindest of hearts. ' There

25—2

388 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

o

stood by the cross of Jesus,' we are told by the Evangelist,
' Mary, His mother,' not as idle or busied with vain tasks,
[122 a] but with a troubled mind, and a piteous voice,
saying: 'O my Son, that wert once my delight and my
joy, and art now a grief keener than the sharpest-pointed
sword ! Oh, how unhappy is this day both for me and for
Thee ; who can heal the wounds of my sorrows, or comfort
the wretchedness of Thy miserable mother, when I see my
Son made as it were a leper. Thou that wert fairest of all
the children of men, and treated as a malefactor and
numbered with transgressors, Thou that art the holiest of
the saints ? Above all my unbearable sorrows is this,
that I see Thee to all appearance forgetful of me, Thy
widowed mother. Now, even now. Thou art dying, and
sayest no word to me. What shall I do without Thee, my
Son ? Whither shall I betake myself ? To whom shall I
fly for refuge ? Thou art my Father, Thou art my
Brother, Thou art my glory. O forsaken one that I am,
who see so great a Son fainting upon the cross ! O my
most loving Son, speak to me, Thy mother, that I may
hear Thy voice, that so by hearing Thy mere words I may
be made more patient to endure my punishment, which
tortures me through my love of Thee, lest I faint in this
ineffable anguish. To whose charge, I pray Thee, wilt
Thou leave me, Thy orphan ? With these and other
lamentations like to these, the Virgin Mary lamented in
this place the misfortunes of her Son and of herself. Her
Son, seeing this, said : ' Woman, behold Thy Son.' We
pitied the mother in this place, even as on Calvary we had
pitied the Son. But how warm a love she felt above all
others for the Evangelist himself, who stood there in such
deep affliction ! The blessed Virgin and John and the others
did not stand upon the rock, beneath the arms of the cross,
but at the foot of the rock, opposite to Christ's face.

BROTHER FELIX FABRL 3S9

THE CHAPEL OF THE HOLY ANGELS, AND WHEREFORE
IT SHOULD BE THERE.

After we had said our prayers in the afore-mentioned
place, we passed into another chapel, which is dedicated to
the holy angels. This chapel is served by Jacobites, and
we knelt therein and received indulgences (-|-).

After this we conferred with one another as to why a
chapel of the holy angels should be built adjoining this
most holy church. The answer which we received was,
that this chapel was built because of the effectual protec-
tion which the angels extend to this church. For had the
holy angels not always guarded this church and the Lord's
Sepulchre with especial care, it would long ago have been
utterly destroyed by the infidels. Moreover, pilgrims who
come from parts beyond the sea to the Sepulchre of the
Lord escape many risks and deadly perils through the
guardianship of the angels, to whom they return thanks
in this chapel, and beg that they may be brought happily
home again under the same angelic safe-conduct.

THE CHAPEL OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST.

From this chapel we passed on to another one, which is
dedicated to John the Baptist, and which belongs to the
Georgians. When we had entered it we bowed ourselves
in prayer, and received indulgences (-f-). It is quite accord-
ing to reason that he who was the greatest among those
born of women should have a place and oratory beside the
greatest church among all churches ; and likewise because
the most holy Baptist pointed to Christ with his finger and
said, ' Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins
of the world,' which saying we know [b] was fulfilled in this
spot, whereon He offered Himself as a sacrifice to take
away the sins of the whole world. Moreover, the Baptist

390 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

has a chapel there, in order that the Saracens themselves
may be more inclined to spare the church, because they
hold the Baptizer of Christ in great honour.

THE CHAPEL OF ST. MARY MAGDALEN IN THE COURT-
YARD OF THE CHURCH.

As we went further on we came upon another chapel,
which is dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, on the left hand
side (of the court), close to the bell-tower. This was once
a large church with a convent of nuns attached to it, but
at the present day the greater part of it has been destroyed.
Service is performed in this chapel by the Greeks. It was
very right of the ancient fathers of the church to build the
church of St. Mary Magdalen adjoining the most holy
church of the Holy Sepulchre : for when all the Apostles
had gone away from this place and left the sepulchre,
Mary Magdalen herself remained alone in the garden,
walking to and fro and seeking (for the Lord), and could
not bear to leave the place : by which piety she deserved
to have a house of prayer here, that she might be held in
honour on this spot for evermore. In this chapel we said
the appointed prayers, received indulgences (f), and went
on our way to the other holy places.

THE PLACE WHERE ABRAHAM WAS ABOUT TO OFFER
HIS SON ISAAC AS A SACRIFICE.

The four chapels aforesaid stand round about the court-
yard or parvise of the church of the Holy Sepulchre, and
one can enter them from the court without any ascent or
descent. After we had visited them, as has been said, we
turned back to the right-hand side of the court, and there
passed through a door into a dark passage through some
old buildings in which we could see nothing whatever,
because the place is dark, and we had just come out of the

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 391

bright sunshine into that gloomy place. We went forward
a few paces through this darkness, and came to some stone
steps, up which we went, and found some tiny cells and
chambers in which some wretched Eastern Christians dwell.
We knocked at the doors of these, and found only one
person there, a little old black slave-woman, who, when
she saw us, unlocked the chapel to see which we had come
up thither. It is indeed a beautiful chapel, floored with
polished and variegated marble, and is situated upon
Mount Calvary, on that side of the rock where the cross
stood, but without the walls of the church. This chapel is
said, according to the opinion of the Catholic doctors,
Augustine and Jerome, and the Rabbis of the Jews, to be
built upon the spot where Abraham, following the com-
mand of the Lord, was about to sacrifice his son Isaac.
Others say that this took place on Mount Seir or Sardenai,
near Damascus. Others, again, say that it took place upon
Mount Moriah, whereon afterwards Solomon built the
Temple. But our version is the more Catholic, and more
agreeable to reason, because both as a type and as a
reality it would have a special propriety as regards the
place : because, as Abraham did not spare his own son, as
we read in the twenty-second chapter of Genesis, so the
Lord did not spare His own very Son, but offered Him
up for us all, as is told in the Epistle to the Romans,
chapter viii.

Near this chapel, on the outside of it, there stands an
ancient [123 «] olive-tree, which is said to be planted on
the place where the ram was caught by his horns in
the thicket, which ram, as we read in the twenty-second
chapter of Genesis, Abraham sacrificed in place of his son.
So in that holy chapel we bowed ourselves to the earth,
and after saying the appointed prayers received indul-
gences (f). When we had received the indulgences we

392 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

betook ourselves to reflection upon the admirable obedience
of Abraham, which led him simply, without the slightest
opposition, to follow the command of God, and cast away
from himself that which he held most dear, to slay his
best beloved with his own hands, even his only-begotten
son that had been miraculously born of his lawful wife, to
whom the promise of a son had been given. Added to all
this, he was a good son, pious, and obedient beyond all
others, beauteous, healthy, guileless. Oh, what an example
of virtue is it for us to look with our mind's eye upon these
two, as they strove upon this very spot to carry out this
most difficult task. Abraham was an old man, Isaac was
five-and-twenty years old, and both of them were ready to
obey God alone in all things. * Lo,' said Isaac, 'you have
me, father ; deal with me as you will, bind my hands and
feet with ropes, slay me as it pleases you and God.' O
pilgrim, what must it have been to see that venerable old
man with wondrous zeal bind the hands and feet of his
son, and raise aloft his naked sword wherewith to slay
him ! What unheard-of obedience both in the father and
in the son ! What a glowing zeal had they both to serve
God. Oh, on this spot may our most lukewarm spirit of
obedience be roused up, reproved, corrected, and amended !
God warns us, prelates exhort us, the Scriptures cry out
to us, experience bears witness to us, vows bind us,
examples teach us, and yet we are too proud to obey !
Let us, then, on this spot call upon the names of the holy
patriarchs that grace may be given to us by God.

THE PLACE WHERE MELCHISEDECH MET ABRAHAM
WITH THE BREAD AND WINE.

When we came out from thence we were led into another
chapel of equal beauty, which is built on the place where
Melchisedech, the priest of the Most High God and first

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 393

King of Jerusalem, met Abraham and blessed him, promised
him prophetically that Christ should be born of his seed,
and offered him bread and wine. To him Abraham gave
firstfruits and tithes of all that he had. In this place we
kissed the ground, and received indulgences (-f). We also
did as the Apostle bids us do in the seventh chapter of the
Epistle to the Romans/ saying, * Now consider how great
this man (Melchisedech) was, unto whom even the patriarch
Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils.' About this Mel-
chisedech you may read above, page 116 b. From that
church we passed on to the wall of the choir of the church,
circling round towards the right hand and upwards, and
so we were able to look over the city far and wide, and
were able to note excellently well the distance from the
gate out of which the Lord Jesus was led bearing His
cross, even to the Mount Calvary.

THE COURTYARD IN FRONT OF THE CHURCH OF THE
HOLY SEPULCHRE HATH IN IT THESE PLACES
AFORESAID, AND IN IT ARE ALSO THE FOLLOWING.

After we had seen that we came down by the same
steps which we had gone up, into the courtyard of the
<;hurch, and near the door we were shown a stone in the
pavement, [p] upon which were imprinted the marks of
two human feet, just as if a man had stood upon a lump
of soft wax, and pressed his feet into it ; and it is evident
that these traces of footsteps are not made in the stone by
art, but by a miracle, though nothing is known for certain
about this. However, they say that these are the foot-
steps of the Lord Jesus, who stood there at the foot of the
rock of Calvary awaiting His crucifixion. Before this
stone we bowed ourselves to the ground and kissed the
sacred footprints. From thence we went in procession to

^ Hebrews vii. 4.

394 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

a place close to the way out of the courtyard, where our
Lord as He carried His heavy cross is said to have fallen
beneath it through anguish and horror when He beheld
the rock of Calvary before Him, as has been told above,
page 92 d, ad fin. This holy place is marked with a stone,
whereon many crosses have been cut by pilgrims. We
therefore kissed this place, and received plenary indul-
gences (ft).

THE PALACE OF THE KING OF JERUSALEM HARD BY

THE CHURCH.

After this we came out of the courtyard, and passed
through a door on the left-hand side of it as you look
towards the church into a garden planted with orange-
trees and pomegranates, from which garden we went up
into a great house with many rooms, in which house, how-
ever, only a few poor Greeks dwelt, although a hundred
men could dwell therein in comfort, because, as I said
before, it is a great and stately house, containing a very
great number of vaulted chambers. It adjoins the western
side of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in such sort that
in the chief room there is a window pierced through the
wall into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, through which
one can look down upon the sepulchre of the Lord.

This house was once the dwelling of the Kings of
Jerusalem, who dwelt there that they might always be
near to the most holy sepulchre of our Lord, and in the
days of the Latin kings three loaves of bread were given
away there every day to pilgrims. When the Soldan took
the holy city and possessed it, he kept on this dole for
many years, but now it has altogether fallen into disuse,
and the Greeks who dwell in this royal palace can hardly
exist through poverty. The house itself threatens to fall
into ruin on every side ; in many places it is already in

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 395

ruins, nor is there anyone to repair it or to build up those
ruinous parts. It is inhabited by Greek pilgrims when
there are any in Jerusalem, who call it the palace of the
Patriarch of the Greeks.

THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN AND THE PLACES ADJOINING
IT, AND FORMING PART OF ITS BUILDINGS.

When we came out of that house we went up to the
Hospital of St. John, which is opposite to it, in which
pilgrims sleep and eat. Adjoining this building in which
the pilgrims sojourn, [124 «] there was once a great palace,
a stately dwelling of the noble knights of St. John, who
were most pious men, and most hospitable to pilgrims. It
used to be the custom for every pilgrim who entered the
hospital to give the warden of the hospital two Venetian
marks, and he had free quarters without any dispute,
even if he remained in Jerusalem for a year. And that
house and hospital was so roomy and splendid that if a
thousand pilgrims arrived there all of them had room with-
out crowding, as may be seen by its ruins, and by the part
which remains standing only partly ruined, which is so
large that four hundred pilgrims can live in it.

Opposite the hospital are the ruins of vast walls, the
remains of the house of the Teutonic Knights, with whom
in former times pilgrim nobles from Germany were quar-
tered. Near this same house was another great hall,
wherein women pilgrims were wont to sojourn, since they
were on no account permitted to live with their husbands
in the great hospital.

Now, by the side of the great hospital the Saracens have
built a tall and costly tower, adorned with white polished
marble, and close to the tower they have built a mosque,
facing the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In this tower
they shout and howl day and night according to the ordi-

39S

THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

nances of their accursed creed. I quite believe that this
mosaue and tower have been built out of disrespect for
the Crucified One, and as an offence to the Christians.
Beside the mosque at the foot of the tower is a boys'
school, in which the heathen children are instructed in the
law of Mahomet, and there they shout all day long, making
a surprising noise. On another occasion when I was
coming down from Mount Sion alone in order to say my
prayers in the courtyard of the church, hearing the boys
crying out, I went up to the door of the school and looked
in. They were sitting in rows upon the ground, and all of
them were repeating the same words in unison in a shrill
voice, bowing down their heads and their backs, even as
the Jews are wont to do when saying their prayers. They
repeated the same words so many times, that I remem-
bered both the words and the musical notes, which sounded
thus :

-e ^ ]

^^^^-'\ ^ ^

t^ m tSBS El ™

E „ P ^ E3 (^

Ha y la Halyl la lach Ha y la Ha lyl la lach Ha y la Ha lyl la lach

These are the true principles and profession of their faith,
and these are the first things which they give to their boys
to learn, and drive them into their minds by constant
repetition. Upon their towers also they frequently make
proclamations, as will be seen on page 95, Part II. They
have likewise other verses which they teach their children,
which are set to different tunes, as I have often [d] heard.
Beside that school within the mosque and churchyard are
two prisons belonging to the town, in which criminals are
confined. They are small hovels, like overs, and stand
vi'ere to the great hindrance and terror of pilgrims. Indeed,
it has often happened to me that when I have been going
to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to say my prayers

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 397

before the church door, if I saw armed men standing round
about these prisons, I have gone home again lest they
should do me some injury. I believe that these prisons
were actually built there for a disgrace to the church and
the hospital, and to be a terror to pilgrims.

From the hospital it is a very little way to the courtyard
of the church, and pilgrims are not forbidden to go down
thither as many times a day as they please, unless they are
prevented by a gathering of the mob at these aforesaid
prisons. In my first pilgrimage we were not taken to the
Hospital of St. John, but to a large building in Millo,
beneath the City of David, and we were not able to go
down to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre except under
the protection of some Saracen. What the reason of our
being quartered elsewhere than in the hospital may have
been, I know not ; but this I know, that for many years
before us pilgrims had been entertained in that same
house, because the walls of the chambers were covered
with paintings of the coats-of-arms of noblemen of our
country, whereby I knew that they had been quartered
there, and not in the Hospital of St. John. This same
house is large, containing many chambers, and has a
beautiful garden. It stands in Millo between Mount Sion
and Jerusalem.

Now, after we had visited all the aforesaid places, as I
have told you, we all went back, every man to his own
place. The lay pilgrim knights went to the Hospital of
St. John, but we clergy went up in company with the
Minorite brethren to Mount Sion, where we ate, drank,
and rested ourselves. Here ended this pilgrimage.

39S THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

DESCRIPTION OF THE SEPULCHRE OF THE LORD JESUS;
WHAT IT WAS LIKE ORIGINALLY, AND WHAT IT IS
LIKE AT THE PRESENT DAY, ETC.

In the making of anything, both nature and art, although
they have the whole of it in view, begin nevertheless with
the parts ; and first with the nobler parts, and so proceed,
forming one after another till there results the whole which
they had intended to make. I think that I had better
proceed likewise in my arrangement of the account of the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which I intend to write.
Before I describe it (as a whole) I shall first describe its
principal parts, to wit, the holy sepulchre, which is the
head and chief part of the whole church, from which the
entire church is named, and afterwards I shall describe the
Mount Calvary, etc.

[125 «] Now that I am about to give a description of
the holy sepulchre, although it is not a matter of great
importance, yet nevertheless I find no small difficulty in
this task, and that on account of the discrepancies which
are to be found in the books written about it by various
pilgrims. For this reason also I would gladly describe its
arrangement to my brethren in my writings as clearly as I
beheld it with my eyes ; but this is impossible, because I
must needs write either more or less about it than what I
saw. The chief points about which I must speak are the
three following :

I, What the Lord's sepulchre was like at the time when
the Lord's body was laid therein.

IL What that sepulchre which we visited and worshipped
is like.

in. Whether this sepulchre is the same wherein the
Lord Jesus was laid ; and in this third question lies the
whole difficulty.

BROTHER FELIX FABRT. 399

As touchinc^ the first, you must know that it is easy to
give an idea of what the Lord's sepulchre was Hke at
the time of the death of Christ, He who has beheld the
ancient sepulchres in those countries will not find any
difficulty in this, although it cannot be distinctly gathered
from the words of the holy Evangelists, because they speak
briefly and succinctly about this matter. Matthew says
(chapter xxvii.), ' When Joseph had taken the body, he
wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own
new tomb, which he had hewn out of the rock ; and he
rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre.' Mark
says (chapter xv.), 'Joseph bought fine linen and took
Him down and wrapped Him in the linen, and laid Him
in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a
stone unto the door of the sepulchre.' And (chapter xvi.)
he says of the stone which was rolled to the door that
* it was ver}'' great : and entering into the sepulchre, they
saw a young man,' etc, Luke (chapter xxiii.) says, ' Joseph
. . . begged the body of Jesus, and took it down, and
wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was
hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.' Also
he says (chapter xxiv.), 'The women . . . found the
stone rolled away from the sepulchre, and they entered
in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus,' And in
the same chapter * Peter arose and ran unto the sepulchre,
and stooping down he beheld the linen clothes laid on the
ground.' ^ John says more than the others. In chapter xx.
he says : ' In the place where He was crucified there was a
garden, and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was
never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus therefore
because of the Jews' preparation-day, for the sepulchre was
nigh at hand.' And (chapter xx.) he says that ' Alary
Magdalen . . . saw the stone rolled away from the

» A.V. 'by themselves.'

40O THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

sepulchre, and told it to Peter and John, who came to the
sepulchre, and John stooped down and saw the linen
clothes lie, yet went not in.'

After having read these accounts, a man who sees the
ancient tombs in the Holy Land easily understands what
the Lord's sepulchre must have been like; but it cannot
possibly now be like what it then was, because of the church
which has been built above it, and because of its decora-
tions, as will be shown under the second head, and also
because of the changes which the ground has undergone,
because it once was a sepulchral building outside the walls
of Jerusalem, but afterwards a wall has been built enclosing
it, and buildings joined on to it, so that no part of the
shape of the ground has remained like that described by
the Evangelists, [d] If you wish to know what it was
originally like, conceive a garden without the wall and
ditch of the city, and between the ditch and the garden a
public road, having the dry stone wall of the garden on the
one side, and on the other the outer wall of the ditch, or
rock, if the ditch were girded about with rock, as it is at
Jerusalem. Furthermore, picture to yourself in the garden
itself rocks rising out of the ground everywhere, both small
and great ones, and amongst them one large and wide
rock, solid, not hollow, standing up like a small house.
Such was the garden of which John tells us that there was
a garden near the place where Jesus was crucified, for
Jesus was crucified outside the garden, upon the rock of
the ravine, so that the public road divided the rock of the
cross from the dry-stone wall of the garden. Indeed, all
the gardens round about Jerusalem are full of rocks, and are
of an uneven surface because of the rocks rising through it.
Wherefore men who had large rocks in their gardens used
to hollow them out, and hew in them sepulchres and
chambers for the dead. But if the rock were very large.

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 401

after they had hewn out one chamber, they would again
cut a door on the further side of it, and hollow out another
place to bury others of their friends in, and then they
would again hew yet another chamber out of the rock. If
the rock contained only one cave, it was called a simple
cave, if two, a double cave, as we read in the twenty-third
chapter of Genesis that Abraham bought a double cave.
If it contained three chambers, it was called a triple cave, if
four, a quadruple one, and so on. I have seen in certain
.gardens near the field which is called Aceldama, so many
caves with walls of rock, one leading out of another, hewn
one after another out of the living rock, that I did not dare
to go as far as the last one, for after I had entered the
third, and was no longer able to see the light which came
through the door of the first cave, I stopped, frightened at
the darkness : for, indeed, a man who went into them
might lose himself and be unable to find the way out,
because the ancients have cut very deep caverns into the
rock to bury their dead in. So then Joseph of Arimathea,
a man who was good and just, well born, and rich, powerful
and wise, bought for himself this garden near the city at
the side of the rock of Calvary, and caused the solid rock
therein to be hollowed out. But when the Lord died,
Joseph yielded up his right to this place, and gave both
the garden and the rock to Christ, who was the first person
-buried therein, in the inner chamber. When He was
taken down from the cross they carried Him from the
rock of Calvary over the dry stone wall into this garden,
anointed His body upon a stone prepared for this purpose,
and bore it into the second cave ; for the cave was a double
one, and the first door, into the first cave, was wide and
tall, leading into the middle of the cave. The door leading
into the second cave was not opposite to the first door,
^because it was on a man's left hand as he went in. It was

26

.^1

402 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

a low and small door, and on the right-hand side [1260]
was the place where the Lord was laid, on the north side,
for there the hewing out had been purposely neglected,
and only so much of the stone cut away as the body of a
man lying on his back would occupy in length and breadth,
being at the height of three palms and a half above the
floor. Here observe that those who write about the Lord's-
sepulchre draw a distinction between the monument and
the sepulchre : for the monument means the entire hollow
rock and the whole chamber ; but the sepulchre means the
stone coffin or tomb which contained the body. Now,
the monument of the Lord did not contain a movable
sepulchre or coffin, but one made out of the rock itself.
There was, however, in the outer part a hollow place
made to lay a body in, which body was placed in the
midst of the sepulchre in such sort that above it was
covered as if by a wooden plank, and below there was
a base left rising from the ground, whereon the body was
laid. This is what the holy men of old seem to mean-
when they describe the Lord's sepulchre. The author of
' Historia Sacra' quotes the Venerable Bede, and says : The
monument of our Lord was a round cell, hewn out of the
rock beneath it ; it is so high that a tall man can scarcely
reach the top of it with his outstretched hand, and it has
its entrance on the eastern side, against which a great
stone was placed instead of a door. On the northern side
of it is the place of the Lord's body, hewn out of the same
stone, being seven feet in length, raise^ three palms high
above the pavement, like a stone coffin set upon a base.
The recess was cut in the wall itself, like those which are
made in the walls of dwelling-houses to contain house-
hold utensils, and the coffin is not above this, but on the
south side of it, so that it was, as it were, a recess or tomb
lying sideways, having its opening not above, but at the

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 403

side. The colour of the monument and of the recess is
said to have been a mixture of white and red. Thus saith
the ' Historia Sacra ' aforesaid. This was the original form
of the Lord's monument and sepulchre.

This arrangement was altered by the Emperor /Elius
Hadrianus, who caused a temple of Venus to be built on
this site, as has been already told, gage 116^. He did
not pull down the Lord's monument, or the rock Calvary,
but was moved by God to include both of them within his
temple, as they are at this day. But he showed such a
want of reverence for the place as to set up an image
of Jupiter in the cavern of the Lord's sepulchre, and upon
the rock of Calvary he placed a statue of Venus, as may be
read in Jerome's Epistle to Paulinus. In this ungodly
and abominable condition the holy place remained for
about one hundred and eighty years, being within the city
wall, forasmuch as the aforesaid Hadrian filled up the
ravine which served as a ditch to the city, and built a wall
round it enclosing the temple within the city, as has been
told on page 114 b. Henceforth the place became for-
gotten, and the sepulchre of Christ was turned into the
chapel and oratory of Jupiter, while the rock of Calvary
was made into the hill of Venus. [/;] Thus the place was
altogether given over to the worship of daemons, and was
filled with the errors of the heathen until the time of the
blessed Helena, who cleansed it from the idolatrous shrines
and reconsecrated it to Christ the Lord.

HOW THE HOLY SEPULCHRE STANDS AT THE PRESENT
DAY, AND WHAT IT IS LIKE.

Secondly, we must see what the Lord's sepulchre is
now, of what appearance and shape it is. For this descrip-
tion I avail myself of the account of the Lord's sepulchre

26 — 2

404 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

Vv'hich a respectable man named Johannes Tucher, a citizen
of Nuremburg-, has written in the German tongue. He
spent many days at Jerusalem in the year 1479, one year,
that is, before my first visit, and he examined the Lord's
sepulchre with the most minute care, and took its measure-
ments with his hands, feet, and outstretched arms. I had
his account of it with me at Jerusalem, and found all that
he had written concerning the holy sepulchre to be true :
wherefore I have translated it from the German tongue
into Latin, and have inserted it into my Book of Wander-
ings, as being a really true description, and written by
a respectable and truthful man. But lest anyone should
be puzzled by the use of equivocal terms, it must be
previously noted that wherever Master Johannes Tucher
writes Klaftern in his German book, I have put ' cubit,'
which measure is understood to mean the distance between
a man's outstretched arms, from the end of the middle
finger of one hand to the end of the middle finger of the
other hand ; and where he writes Spanne, there I shall
put * palm,' which is understood to mean the distance across
the outstretched hand from the beginning of the thumb to
the end of the ear-finger,^ or middle finger.

Now, the aforesaid man, Johannes Tucher, describes the
Lord's monument and sepulchre as follows : ' The Lord's
monument appears from the outside to be like a low
tower, not a lofty one, having twelve angles on its outside,
at each of which angles stands a hexagonal stone column,
one palm in thickness. These columns support a small
vault which is above the monument, from which vault
there projects a kind of cornice all round, which projects
about half a foot beyond the columns. The whole round
building, with its columns, measures twelve great cubits,
measuring on the outside round about the whole monu-
» C/!r;;f;;^r;- in German = little finger.

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 405

ment, but measurinc^ within it has rather less than nine
palms in length, and the same in breadth. PVom thp
pavement to the top of the hollow vault it is of the height
of a man and a half. The sepulchre or tomb within the
monument is on the right-hand side of the little chamber,
covered with a slab of polished white marble, on which
Mass can be celebrated, and it is four palms and three
fingers wide ; and measuring upwards from the pavement by
hand, it is three palms and four fingers high. The door of
the cave, through which one enters it, is four palms and
a half and three fingers in height. The wall or hole
through the rock at the door is three palms in thickness.
The height of the whole monument [127 «] or chamber,
above the ground, together with the vault, is two great
cubits and a half. Above the convex vault is built up
a hexagonal tabernacle like a tower, with six pairs of
columns, of two cubits in height, upon which rests the
roof of the tabernacle, one cubit in height. The distance
from the roof of this tabernacle upwards, measuring through
the air straight up to the opening in the roof of the church,
which opens above the monument, and through which the
church is lighted, is about six cubits. This opening is
round, and as wide as the whole building of the monument,
so that if the monument were movable, and were hoisted
upwards, it could pass out through that opening. Hence
it clearly appears that the Lord's monument stands in the
open air, and is rained and snowed upon through the
aforesaid opening. The tabernacle itself is artificially
constructed of polished marble, and was once gilded
within and without, columns and roof alike, as may
be seen at this day. From the foundation of this
chapel up to the topmost pinnacle of the roof of the
tabernacle above the main building it measures five cubits
and a half, while the distance up from the foundation

4o6 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

to the opening in the roof of the church will be twelve
cubits, or a little more. Moreover, as you go into the
monument there is a kind of vestibule, which is six cubits
wide all save one palm. The first^ door into the small
chapel (of the sepulchre) is in the midst of this, and is
in height one great cubit and three palms and a half. The
chapel before the cave of the tomb, that is to say, the
outer cave, has one cubit and a half in width, the same
in length, and a small square window on each side. In
this same outer cave, three palms from the door of the
inner cave, is a square stone raised upon a base, measuring
■two palms and a half square, upon which stone the angel is
said to have sat after the Lord's resurrection.' This stone is
a part of the great stone which was rolled to the door of the
monument, mention of which was made on page 102 d.

Lo now, here is a description of the Lord's monument
as it stands at this day, and the picture of the thing de-
scribed may be seen with the eyes in the ' Pilgrimage,'
written by that noble and clever man the Lord Bernard
von Braitenbach, Dean of the Metropolitan Church of
Mainz, who accompanied me in my second pilgrimage,
during which he caused the shape of the Lord's monument
to be depicted in an artistic drawing, as he did also with
other things, which shall be mentioned in their place. He
had brought with him a clever and well-taught painter,
whom he had hired, who was to draw the manners and
customs, and the appearance of all the principal cities and
places from the port of Venice onwards, which he did in a
masterly and truthful manner. Whosoever therefore pleases
may lock at his pictures, and will clearly understand the
aforesaid description.

This monument of the Lord stands in the midst of the
church of the Lord's resurrection, just as the sepulchre is

I I take this to mean the entrance into the outer court between the
low walls leading to the Angel Chapel. — A.S.

BROTHER FELIX FADRL 407

placed in the parish church of Ulm on Good Friday. But
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is round, and open
above, as the reader will understand.

The holy sepulchre has, in a manner of speaking, three
-entrances. The first is in the little court, which I call the
first cave, which little court has a wall, so low that a man
standing within it can lean his stomach upon it and look
round the church ; [^] wherefore I have often sat upon that
wall, and have looked down upon the goods of the mer-
chants lying upon the pavement below. Indeed, the
entrance to this little court is not nearly a door, for there
is nothing above the head of him who enters it, inasmuch
as it lacks the lintel ; but the entrance lies between two
walls facing one another, and if these walls were higher,
and a lintel were put across, there would be a door.
The second door is that which leads from the little court
into the first cave in the monument itself. This door is
closed by a gate and fastened with locks : the keys of this
door are now in the possession of the Latin Minorite
brethren ; but a few years ago the Georgians had them.
The third door is that which leads from that chapel, or
first cave, into the second cave, wherein is the Lord's
sepulchre. This cave has no window, nor is there any
light in it save what comes from nineteen lamps which
burn in it, which lamps hang above the Lord's sepulchre ;
and inasmuch as the cave is small, the fire of the lamps
makes a smoke and stench, which greatly troubles those who
enter the place and remain therein. Besides the lamps
there are many lighted candles burning upon the sepulchre;
which are placed there by pilgrims out of piety. Thus, by
the smoke of the lamps and candles together the whole
inside surface has been completely blackened, albeit it is
cased with white and polished marble throughout, both the
pavement, the walls, and the vault. And so much for this.

4o8 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

WHAT WE OUGHT TO THINK ABOUT THIS SEPULCHRE OF
OUR LORD: WHETHER IT IS REALLY HIS OWN, OR
ANOTHER ONE SUBSEQUENTLY BUILT.

In the third place we must see whether this monument
and this sepulchre aforesaid is the same wherein the Lord
was laid, from which also we believe Him to have risen.
And this point is much more difficult than the other two.
In order to decide it, I will quote what I have read in
ancient and modern pilgrim books : for I should not like
on my own responsibility to make any rash assertion which
might either stop or weaken the reverence felt for the
Lord's sepulchre among Christ's faithful people. Further-
more, a difficulty arises in this matter from the different
and inconsistent descriptions of the holy sepulchre written
by the ancients and moderns ; and also from the varying
condition of the city of Jerusalem, and its having been
frequently laid in ruins, and even from the yearning devo-
tion felt by those who visited the holy sepulchre and strove
to carry away some part of it as a great relic. Doubts
are caused likewise by the casing of the sepulchre, because
neither within nor without, neither in the monument nor
in the place where the body was laid, is there any rock or
stone to be seen, but the whole, as has been told, is cased
and covered over with white polished marble, which it was
not originally. Let us therefore see what others think on
this subject, and let us follow that account which seems
the most probable.

A certain holy man named Arculfus, who visited the holy
sepulchre, and was, as it seems to me, in Jerusalem long
before the time of the Latin kings, and before the holy city
was taken by the Saracens after the time of the Emperor
Heraclius, says in his book : * In the midst of the interior
of the round church there is a round chamber cut out of a

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 409

single piece of rock, within which men can stand and pray.
The vaulted roof is about a foot and a half above the head
of a man of no small stature. The entrance of this little
[128 d\ chamber is towards the east. The whole of its
outer surface is covered with choice marble, and the highest
part of its roof, which is ornamented with gold, sustains a
golden cross of no small size. The sepulchre of the Lord
is on the northern side of this chamber, and is cut out of
the same rock as it, but the pavement of the chamber is
lower than that of the place of sepulture. This chamber
is not covered within by any ornamentation, but through-
out its entire cavity shows the marks of the iron tools with
which the workmen made it. The colour of the rock of
the monument and sepulchre is twofold, red and white,
mixed together, and so the same stone shows these two
colours. IMoreover, the sepulchre forms a couch capable
of taking in one man lying on his back, and it is like a
cave, having an opening which looks towards the south
side of the monument from the opposite side. A low
overhanging roof has been made above it. In this sepulchre
twelve lamps, according to the number of the twelve
Apostles, burn day and night.'^ The aforesaid Arculfus
writes that he saw this, and many other things, which show
that he must have seen the Holy Land a thousand years
ago. I am much pleased with this description, because it
agrees very much with the description given by the
Venerable Bede, to be found on page 126.

A certain other pilgrim, who saw the Lord's sepulchre
in the year of our Lord 1200, speaks of it thus : ' The cave,
wherein is the sepulchre of the Lord, is everywhere coated
with marble on the outside ; but within it is bare rock, even
as it was at the time of Christ's passion.' Now when he
says that the whole outside of the cave was covered with

^ See Professor Willis's ' Church of the Holy Sepulchre,' p. 47.

4IO THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

marble, if he means the entire surface, both inside and
outside, then the cave was then in the same condition as at
this day. But if he means to say that only the surface of
the outer part was cased with marble, and that there was
none inside, then it agrees with the former description.
And this, I think, is what he did mean.

Another pilgrim speaks as follows : * The Chapel of the
Holy Sepulchre is vaulted in a semicircular fashion, without
any window, and within it is the sepulchre, which is hewn
out of the solid rock ; but, lest it should be picked at by
pilgrims, it is cased with slabs of marble. The slab which
covers the front part of it has three openings, through
which the true rock of the holy sepulchre can be felt and
kissed. This slab is so cunningly joined to the rock that
one would think that it was all one stone.' The same
writer says : ' I believe that no church contains any of the
true rock of the Lord's sepulchre. For if,' he goes on, ' it
could be carried away by pieces and grains at a time, it
would have been carried off long ago, were it as large as
a mountain.' This same man says that no lamps are
burned in the sepulchre except when pilgrims are sojourn-
ing there, because they pay for oil.

Another pilgrim was at the Lord's sepulchre in the year
1430. He had gone thither at the instance of some
cardinal to look into the matter, and he describes the holy
sepulchre in the same manner as his predecessors, adding,
however, what follows. ' It must be borne in mind,' says
he, ' that the monument which is built upon this most holy
spot is not that wherein the dead body of Christ was
originally laid, because Holy Writ tells us that the tomb
of Christ was cut out of one solid stone, as all the ancient
tombs are in those countries. But this one is made up of
many stones, not very skilfully cemented together with
mortar, nor is there any part of the true sepulchre there

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 4U

except that on the left-hand side of it there juts out from
the wall of the chapel a stone of the size of a man's head,
white in colour, seven palms high above the ground, which
is kissed by pilgrims as a relic of the true sepulchre of
Christ' Thus says he.

[^;] The last pilgrims who have visited it give contra-
dictory accounts of it in their books, and every one of
them attempts thus to describe what he thought he saw,
because no one presumes to contradict him. Some say
that under the marble slabs the rock of the monument and
holy sepulchre still exists entire, albeit no part of it is
visible. Others say that no man knows for certain or can
affirm that the true rock is or is not under the slabs.
Others plainly assert that there has not been a piece as
large as a grain of millet left there of the true stone. For
this they allege several reasons. First, the hatred felt for the
Christians by the heathen, whose spite against the Chris-
tians is so keen that they destroy every single thing which
the Christians love and reverence. Now, they knew that
the sepulchre of Christ was our greatest object of venera-
tion, and this caused them to rage all the more furiously
against it and tear it to pieces. Moreover, they knew that
while the sepulchre existed the Christians would always
pant for the recovery of the city of Jerusalem, but that if
it were done away with they would care less about it,
therefore they left no part of it standing. For the Saracens
were ofttimes harassed, conquered, and put to rout by the
Christians, and these Saracens, even when they had won
the victory and had driven the Christians out of Jerusalem,
avenged upon the holy sepulchre the wrongs and troubles
which they in past times had suffered at the hands of the
Christians, by destroying it, and ruining the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre as an insult to the Christians. Secondly,
another reason is given why no part of the holy sepulchre

412 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

remains in its place. When the Christians were for the
last time conquered by the Saracens, and were forced to
yield up Jerusalem to them and depart from it, they made
a capitulation on the condition that they should be allowed
to leave the city with their lives, and everything which
they could carry with them. The Saracens agreed to this,
that they should depart from Jerusalem carrying what they
pleased with them. Then the Patriarch of Jerusalem with
all his clergy, and the King of Jerusalem with all the
chivalry of the holy city, departed from it ; on the course
of which removal it is believed that they carried away with
them everything which was reputed holy, down to its very
foundations — among which things the holy sepulchre was
the chief — in order that they might leave nothing behind
to be trodden under foot by the heathen. Even at the
present day the faithful who visit those lands carry off as
many pieces of stone and earth as they are able, and if
they could they would carry off the whole land, that it
might not be trodden under foot by those swine. Let no
one doubt this, that if it were possible to take away the
whole place of the holy sepulchre, they would have taken
it away long ago ; how much more then a rock, which they
could carry away in pieces. Another reason why they say
that nothing is left of the holy sepulchre is the rash zeal
of the faithful, who cannot be restrained by any law or
ordinance from carrying off pieces of the holy places, if
they can. This argument proves that the rock of the holy
sepulchre has been carried away long ago.

Others, on the other hand, combat these arguments,
answering the first, that of the malice of the infidels, by
declaring that it never was so fierce as to rage against
the holy sepulchre, which is guarded by God and His
angels, as has been told already on page 122 d. We read
that when that most inhuman tyrant, Chosroes, burned

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 413

Jerusalem, and went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
to destroy it, he was seized with terror when he came
near to the church, so that he hurried away from it, and
could not reach the Lord's sepulchre. [129^] They knew
also that, as long as the sepulchre existed, the Christians
would spare no expense, but would always come to see it,
and they might. make much money out of them by tolls,
and gain gold and silver for letting them enter the Lord's
sepulchre : wherefore they preserved the holy sepulchre as
a matter of profit and advantage, God increasing their love
of money that thereby His sepulchre might be saved.
Nor is it to be believed that the Saracens, when harassed
by the Christians, would seek to revenge themselves upon
the holy sepulchre so greatly to their own loss. I rather
believe that they have allowed it to stand in order that
the Christians may regard them more favourably, for they
greatly fear them. Moreover, it does not seem reasonable
to believe that the faithful, when they departed from
Jerusalem, should have carried off from thence the holy
sepulchre, since it was a solid rock, growing out of the
bowels of the earth ; and supposing that they did cut off
the rock level with the ground, whither, pray, did they
carry the rocks which they cut off? I have never in any
church seen a stone from the holy sepulchre of the size of a
man's finger, and yet I have been in many of the principal
churches of the East and West. Neither is it to be
understood that all Christians were turned out of Jeru-
salem, but only the Latins, against whom war was beine
made, not the other Eastern Christians. When the Latins
were turned out, the Easterns entered into a treaty with
the Soldan, swore allegiance to him, and obtained posses-
sion of the sepulchre, as I shall show hereafter. Nay, not
even all the Latins went away, but many of them stayed
there, associating themselves with the Saracens: which

414 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

men were excommunicated by the Pope, We also read
that the Christians, when they were conquered by the
Saracens, before leaving Jerusalem, made a treaty with
them, that all pilgrims coming thither from the Latin
countries should be admitted : to which they most willingly
consented. So the Soldan continued to pay the dole
which the King of Jerusalem had been wont to give every
day to the pilgrims sojourning in the Hospital of St. John,
just as the King of Jerusalem had done. There v/as there-
fore no question about carrying away the holy sepulchre.
Yet what we read in history is nevertheless true, that the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre was once destroyed, and
the holy sepulchre itself, yet never entirely so. With
regard to this matter I made the following experiment :
While keeping my vigil in the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre, I took a lighted candle, and went to the Lord's
monument, which I examined most carefully to see whether
I could find any part that was not covered with marble. I
found that on the outside the whole of it was cased in
marble all the way round. When 1 entered the first door
into the outer chapel, I found the walls on either side
covered with marble, but I found that the wall before my
face, that which divides the outer cave from the inner one,
and in which is the door leading into the Lord's sepulchre,
was bare ; and on holding my light near it I saw a wall cut
out of the rock, not made of ashlar work, but all of one
piece, with the marks of iron tools plainly to be seen
upon it. In the upper part there seemed to have been
a fracture, which had been mended with stones and
cement. From this it appeared to me that the Lord's
sepulchre had once been destroyed, but never completely
rooted up ; that what is now there is a restoration, and
that it has stood for more than two hundred years as it
appears this day, save that it is now more carefully encased

BROTHER FELIX FABRI.

415

with marble, lest the pilgrims should pick off pieces from
the walls for relics, and for this same reason [b'] the
aforementioned slab with three openings was put in front
of the holy sepulchre, because the pilgrims used to bore
into it with iron tools in order to get off pieces of it.
Though the pilgrims have always striven to get pieces of
the holy sepulchre, they have never been allowed to do so,
but other stones are offered them in the place of the true
rock : for guardians are always present in the holy sepul-
chre, who stop those who want to break off pieces. Where-
fore the argument about the indiscreet zeal of the faithful
falls to the ground : for even supposing them to have this
indiscreet zeal, they are not permitted to act indiscreetly.

It is clear, also, from what has been said, that the Lord's
sepulchre originally had its upper part pointed, so that it
was like a roof, and covered the tomb with a ridged back,
as the coverings of tombs are wont to be made ; but the
faithful have planed down this raised part, and have made
the cover flat, like a table, so that Mass can be celebrated
in the holy sepulchre upon the tomb.

From all that has been said about the holy sepulchre,
the devout and quiet pilgrim should grasp this fact, that
whether the cave as it stands at the present day be the
true and entire monument of Christ, or whether a part
of it be there, or whether none of it be there, matters very
little either one way or the other, because the main fact
connected with the place abides there, and cannot by any
means be carried away or demolished, the fact, to wit,
that this was the place of the most holy burial and resurrec-
tion of Christ, where, albeit there may not be the very
monument wherein Christ's body was laid, there is never-
theless a monument erected to Christ, and in which the
sacrament of His body has ofttimes been celebrated : it is
a double cave, exactly like the origiiial tomb, and equally

4i6 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

holy, reverend, and venerable : even as the tables which
Moses made in the likeness of the first tables which he
broke contained the same commandments, and were
equally holy and reverend, so that they were deposited in
the ark of the covenant as most important and most holy
relics. Let this suffice about the holy sepulchre.

In some of the ancient pilgrims' books I have found the
following verses, which they found carved upon the stones
of the holy sepulchre, which inscription, however, I did
not see.

Above the flat slab of the sepulchre was written :

' Here He lay dead, when Death by dying He o'ercame ;
Here slept the Lion which awake the world did tame.'

Above the door of the monument was written :

*Ye that do pass My sepulchre to-day
Behold the print of where My body lay
For three long days, when I did die for thee,
And chained fierce Behemoth, who erst was free.
I burst for a\e the direful bonds of hell,
And raised My children up, in heaven with Me to dwell.'

Hound about the dome of the holy sepulchre was written :

'Life once died, and was buried in this grave.
That death was life, and us from death did save.
For He that crushed hell's pow'r beneath His feet,
And bravely led His troops the foe to meet,
That Lion bold in triumph hence did rise ;
Hell groans, Death mourns that he hath lost his prize.'

THE POSITION OF MOUNT CALVARY, AND A SHORT
DESCRIPTION THEREOF.

Mount Calvary holds the second place, next to the holy
sepulchre, in dignity and sanctity. Wherefore, although
its description has been given already on page 117^, yet
it is repeated here because it here finds its proper place ;
and certain points which were forgotten elsewhere are here

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 417

noted. Herein it should be noted that Mount Calvary, or

Golgotha, is a place on the north side of Mount Sion, and

that there is a difference when one speaks of 'Mount*

Calvary, and of the ' rock ' or ' cliff ' of Calvary. Mount

Calvary includes a great part of the city. The place of

Calvary is the whole enclosure containing the entire church.

The rock of Calvary contains only the cross of Christ and

those of the thieves. Mount Calvary is the name given to

the whole of the high ground, which reaches from the

ancient gate, part of which is still standing, up as far as

the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Indeed, it is a good

way up the hill from the cross-road, where Christ said to

the weeping women, * Ye daughters of Jerusalem, weep

not for Me,' and so on, up to the place of the crucifixion ;

and up above there is a wide space, whereon stands the

v/hole Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and all of this

region is Mount Calvary or Golgotha, so that in this

sense the Church of the Holy Sepulchre lies upon Mount

Calvary. But the rock of Calvary is the place or monticle

whereon stood the holy cross with our Lord and the two

thieves, as has been shown before. There are three ways

leading up to this most holy rock. The first is from the

church of Golgotha, from the place where is the centre

of the world ; the second is from the Church of the Holy

Sepulchre, which lies below it ; and the third is from the

outer court of the church. This ascent has been blocked

up by the Saracens, as have the other doors leading into

the church, lest anyone should be able to get into the

church without their knowledge. So then the rock of

Calvary is the rock of the cross ; and Mount Calvary is

all uphill from the house of the Rich Man, or from the

afore-mentioned cross-way: yet it must not be supposed

that Mount Calvary is a lofty place, overlooking all the

places round about it, because both on the western and

27

,418 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

. the southern side there are higher places than it ; but it is
called a mount by comparison with those places from
which one ascends to it, as has been said. So much for
this. For a further account of this mount see page 115,
sq., and page 255,

DESCRIPTION OF THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE
AND ITS ARRANGEMENT.

In describing the Temple or Church of the Holy-
Sepulchre, we shall consider four points : First, ' Who
founded it i*' Second, 'What glory and honour did it
receive in old times }' Third, ' What is its condition at
the present day ?' Fourth, ' Who they are who officiate
therein, and the differences between the various sects who
worship Christ therein.' The result of a careful considera-
tion of these four will be a full description, and conse-
quently complete understanding thereof.

WHO WAS THE FOUNDER OF THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY
SEPULCHRE, AND HOW MANY TIMES IT HAS BEEN
DESTROYED AND RESTORED.

Who built the Church of the Lord's Sepulchre is a
doubtful matter, because of the various accounts given by
those who have written on the subject. Some imagine
that this church was the temple of Venus, which the
Emperor i^lius Hadrianus built on the site of the cruci-
fixion and resurrection, and that St. Helena, when she
came, cast out the idols and consecrated the building to
Christ.

Some, again, say that she utterly destroyed the aforesaid
temple, and built this church. We also read in the books
of the wars between the Christians and the Saracens, that
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was often destroyed by
the infidels and rebuilt by the believers. Chosroes endea-

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 419

voured to destroy this church, but was terrified by its
Divine power and fled from it. When the Tartars
occupied the Holy Land and Jerusalem, they are said to
have overthrown the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at the
time when the city was taken. But not long after this the
Emperor of Constantinople came to Jerusalem, and rebuilt
the church in the same fashion as before. After this the
Saracens wreaked their anger against the Christians upon
this church, and utterly destroyed it ; but one of the Em-
perors of Constantinople rebuilt it. For a true and trust-
worthy account of this, see page 26^.5, where also the place
of the crucifixion and that of the sepulchre are described.

HOW GLORIOUS THE SEPULCHRE WAS IN THE DAYS OF
OLD ; ITS RELICS, AND ITS ORNAMENTS.

In the days of old this temple was very glorious both in
its structure and its services, and was not only sacred
because of the holy places which it enclosed, but also
because of the most precious relics which were preserved
in it. There once was kept the holy cross, as is described
on page iii a, and the other instruments of Christ's
passion which were found by St. Helena. There once was
displayed a great chain, which was put 'round the neck of
the Lord Jesus when He was taken in the garden, which
chain was also put round the necks of the pilgrims who
visited the church, and many miracles were wrought by it.
There also was shown a great silver cup, of which the
Lord Jesus partook at the last supper with His disciples,
and of which He said, ' This cup is the new testament in
My blood ' (Luke xxii. 20). There, too, was the basin
wherein the Lord Jesus washed the feet of His disciples at
the last supper. In this church was that most precious
napkin which the most blessed Virgin Mary bound about
the head of the Lord Jesus when He was taken down

27 — 2

420 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

from the cross, as has been told on page 117. Of this
napkin we read, in John xx., that Peter when he entered
into the sepulchre saw the linen clothes lying there, and
the napkin that was about the head of Jesus not lying with
the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.
Thus it remained lying in the sepulchre for some days
after Christ's resurrection. Now, a certain Jew, as rumours
were spread abroad of Christ's resurrection, secretly entered
the Lord's sepulchre, and seeing this napkin neatly folded
up, took it away to his own house, for he was a poor and
wretched Jew. From the hour when he brought that
napkin into his house [131 a] the Lord blessed the house oi
that Jew, and he became rich and renowned. When the
Jew perceived this, he locked up the napkin with the
utmost care as a most valuable treasure, yet was he not
converted to Christ, but remained obstinate in his un-
belief to the end, when, calling his two sons to him, he
divided his substance between them, giving the napkin to
the elder, and all his other property to the younger. The
elder son treated the napkin with scorn, although his father
said it was more precious than all his other wealth, and
exchanged it with his younger brother ; thus the napkin
came into the hands of the younger brother, who prospered
more and more every day, while, on the other hand, the
elder's fortune declined daily. When the inheritor of the
napkin was himself in extreme old age, he bequeathed it to
his best beloved son, telling him of its virtues and of the
place in which it was found. He received the napkin and
suddenly became a rich man, and thus the Jews of that
family continually became richer and more respected. The
napkin descended by hereditary right from father to son
to the fifth generation, in which there was a dispute
between two brothers about the napkin, and the matter
became public. Hearing of this, the Christians urged their

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 421

claim to the napkin as their own property ; but the Jews
were by no means willing to give it to them, and there
arose a great tumult in Jerusalem, the Christians fighting
with the Jews for the napkin. To allay this disorder the
wise men determined to call in a judge and arbitrator on
the matter, who should neither be a Christian nor a Jew.
and by whose decision both parties should abide. When
this was agreed upon, Mabius, a king of the Saracens, was
called in to give sentence about the napkin, and all the
circumstances were related to him by both parties. On
the appointed day all the people, Christian, Jewish, and
others, were called together ; he sat on a seat of judgment
in a public place, and ordered the napkin to be brought to
him. It was brought to him in a casket. He next ordered
wood to be brought, and a great fire to be lighted in the
midst of the people. The Jews stood on one side of this
fire, the Christians on the other, and the heathen between
them. When the king took the napkin, he cried with a
loud voice : ' Lo, Jesus of Nazareth, here is Thy napkin.
Decide Thou to which party it belongs.' Saying thus he
hurled the napkin into the flames. After it had been
thrown in and had remained in the fire for some little
time, all thought that it must be burnt. But, lo ! of a
sudden it rose from the fire unharmed, soared aloft, beean
to fly, even as a bird flies with outstretched wings, and
after fluttering round and round for some time in the air,
gradually began to descend. All stood with eager faces
and uplifted hands watching to which party it would fly.
Guided by an angel, it settled on the arms of the Christians,
who received it on their bended knees, and with great
j-ejoicing bore it to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
There it remained for many years, and was greatly vene-
rated, as being not the least among the relics of the holy
sepulchre.

422 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

Furthermore, in old times the Lord distinguished this
holy church by many miracles, among which was that
notable one, that on every Easter Eve, when all the people
were gathered together and all lights put out, so that there
was not a single spark in the whole church, [d] of a sudden
while the clergy chanted the service and the people prayed^
in a moment lightning came down from heaven, and as
it were fired the whole church, so that no one who was
present could steadfastly behold that celestial radiance, by
which the Paschal candles and all the other lamps and
tapers were lighted. When this had been done it de-
parted. This miracle took place for many years, and as
soon as it ceased the Lord's sepulchre fell straightway into
the hands of the heathen. They also say that when at
last the Holy Land was recovered that holy fire returned,
and lighted the candles ; but when it ceased to come the
Christians were driven out. For it is an evident sign to
the Christians, if that Easter fire appears, that they are
worthy inhabitants of the holy city and possessors of the
Lord's sepulchre. If it appears not, then even though the)^
may be actually in possession of the Holy Land, yet their
kingdom will soon pass away. At the present day all the
Christians who are in Jerusalem assemble in the church
on Easter Eve, and the Greeks shut their priest into the
Lord's monument with an unlighted candle, which he
brings forth lighted, with a loud cry, and from which all
the lamps are lighted. But it is not lighted by a miracle,
but artificially, albeit the ignorant mob raises its cries to
heaven, praising God, as though a miracle had been
wrought, and so they noise it abroad among the people
and even among the Saracens. I have heard it as a truth
that the Saracens say : ' If the Christians really had their
Easter fire brought down from heaven as they say they
do, and could prove it to us, we should be willing to be

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 423

converted to the faith of Christ.' But, alas 1 we see not
our tokens, there is not one prophet more ; no, not one
is there among us that understandeth any more.^ With
regard to this miraculous lighting of the fire and of the
Easter candle, Jerome says nothing about it in those of
his works which I have read, though he has nevertheless-
written an elegant treatise and an admirable letter to Pre-,
sidius the deacon on the subject of the lighting of the
Easter candle. Neither does Gregory of Tours, a writer
on the subject of ancient miracles, make mention of that
fire.

With regard to this fire there is a beautiful story to be-
found on page 264. Besides what I have told you, there
used to be assemblies and disputations in this church
against heretics, and those who were present at them were
convinced of their errors either by the arguments of the
true faith or by miracles, as, for instance, Cyril in his
epistle to Augustine alludes to some leaders of heretical
sects who were confuted therein.

THE FORM IN WHICH THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY
SEPULCHRE NOW STANDS, AND ITS DESCRIPTION
IN MODERN TIMES, IS GIVEN HERE.

There remains for us to see what the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre is like at the present day. Herein it must
be noted that this church has three names, because it is a
double church, and each part has its own name, and the
whole also has its own name.

The church in which the Lord's monument stands is
called the Church of the Holy Sepulchre ; the church in
which is the centre of the world, near Calvary, is called the
Church of Golgotha. Both these churches together are
called the Church of the Anastasis, or Resurrection of the

* Ps. Ixxiv. 9.

424 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

Lord. It is, in truth, only one church, whereof the nave,
which contains the holy sepulchre, is called the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre. The choir of this same church is
called the Church of Golgotha, because it stands on the
place called Golgotha, The church is a great and costly
one, and were there nothing more than the nave in which
the Lord's sepulchre stands, not counting the choir, yet
this by itself would make a large church. This church,
not counting the choir, is round, supported throughout its
entire circuit by marble columns ; its diameter between the
columns is seventy-three feet, and from the rear of the
columns to the wall of the church is thirty feet. This
space extends all round, and forms a passage between the
columns and the outer wall of the church. This passage
is vaulted over, and its vault rests on one side upon the
aforesaid [132 «] columns, on the other on the circular
outer wall. Above this vault there once was a public
circular passage, and altars, and close to the door of the
church there is a stone staircase leading up to these
galleries. At the present day there are various chambers
and choirs, divided one from another by walls, in which
Christians of other rites perform their worship. Arches
extend from one column to another, above which a
wall rises up to the roof. In this wall are windows,
through which one can look into the church from the
circular gallery above the vault, and can look down upon
the Lord's sepulchre. The highest part of this round
church has not a stone roof, but a wooden one made of
beams of cedar, so arranged that, instead of meeting in a
pinnacle, the beams which rise from the wall opposite to one
another meet in a great circle, and form a round opening,
through which light is spread throughout the whole church,
and immediately beneath which opening, exposed to the
weather, stands the Lord's monument. This is explained

BROTHER FELIX FADRI. 425

above on page 127^. The planks and beams are covered
with lead on their outer side, that side, I mean, which looks
towards the sky, but on their under side they are painted
in divers colours. The walls under the roof and under the
arches are adorned with pictures from the New Testament
in mosaic work, but these most precious figures are drop-
ping to pieces with age, and there is no one to restore the
fallen parts. Round about this round church there are
many chapels, as was shown in the account of the pro-
cession. In the midst of it is the Lord's sepulchre. On
its eastern side is a large and beautiful choir, into which
the door of the holy sepulchre looks directly, as they
stand door to door. In the midst of the choir there is a
large and lofty dome vaulted above the place where lies
the centre of the earth, and there is a way up to the top of
this dome on the outside, where one can see by experiment
that this is the centre of the world, as I have said before,
page iiy d. This choir belongs to the Greeks, and beside
the altar is the marble patriarchal throne, on which is
written in very ancient Latin letters : ' Crticifixum m came
laudate, ct scpidtnin propter nos glorificate, resurgentemqiie
a mortuis adorate.' Above the place where the cross was
set up, the author of * Speculum Historiale ' says that
there was the following inscription : O T/icos, God, Basileus
ijiion, our King, /r^? csnon, before the ages, ergase, wrought,
sop/lias, salvation, en meso, in the midst, Tisgis, of the
earth. In this church there are many chapels both above
and below, within and without, now desecrated, but in
which once lamps used to burn, and whose altars were
once bright with gold and their windows with glass ; but
now there are no lamps, the altars are destroyed, the
windows closed and blocked up with stones. The greater
part of the windows are blocked up with stones, and all
the doors are blocked up save one, whose keys are kept by

426 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

the Saracens, by which door one enters the church. On
the western side steps lead up to a firmly closed door, by
which St. Mary of Egypt once endeavoured to gain
admittance, but was driven away until she vowed to
amend her life, as we may read clearly set forth in the
' Lives of the Fathers.' [d] In consequence of this blocking
up of the windows and doors the church is dark, but the
pavement of the whole church is level, and of polished
marble, so that even when walking in the dark one does
not stumble. In one part of the church, outside the wall,
there is a large cistern, containing excellent water for the
use of the guardians of the church. In another place also
there is a way out of the church into an uncovered court,
surrounded by lofty walls, in which are decent places for
men to do their needs. This church has connected with
it a lofty tower built of white marble stone, wherein once
hung bells, and the beams and woodwork to support them
may still be seen in the upper part where thej^ used to
hang. But when Jerusalem was lost the bells were all cast
down, for heathens of the rite of Mahomet cannot endure
bells, because they have a commandment in their Alcoran
not to use bells for the service of God, nor to suffer them
to be so used. Yet it is said that they like to hear their
chimes ; but that the only reason why they do not have
them is for fear that they should imitate us, against which
the accursed Mahomet always took precautions. This tower
is the first part of all to be seen when one comes from
Bethany to Jerusalem, as I have often noticed. The lintel
above the door of the church is of the whitest marble, and
on the outer side is sculptured with figures representing
our Lord's entry into Jerusalem riding upon an ass, His
casting out the buyers and sellers from the temple, and
His raising of Lazarus ; but the figures have been broken
by violence and their limbs mutilated. Above the doors

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 427

of the church these verses are said to have been inscribed
on the stone, though I could not see them :

'Anno milleno centeno quominus uno,
Quindecies Nilo jam Phoebi lumine tacto,
Vitiu plus sacra; studio quam mitigare acre,
Jerusalem Franci capiunt virtute potent!.'^

In the courtyard of the church stand columns of most
costly marble, which support an entablature, and adorn
the cloister. If anyone wishes to see the form of this
church, let him look at the ' Pilgrimage,' written by that
eminent lord and clever man, Lord Bernhard of Braiten-
bach. Dean of the Metropolitan Church of Mainz, where
he will be able to see its image drawn clearly as if he
were standing in the courtyard and beholding it with his
eyes.

HOW THE ANASTASIS IS COMMON TO ALL CHRISTIANS,
AND HOW PILGRIMS ARE NEVER PERMITTED TO
ENTER IT UNLESS THEY PAY THE CHURCH FEE ;
AND THE WAY BY WHICH ONE ENTERS THE CHURCH,
AND THE VARIETY OF SECTS IN THE CHURCH.

Fourth and lastly we must consider those who dwell in
the aforesaid church, and who the men are who hold their
services therein. In connection with this subject we shall
see a horrible and portentous matter ; for this church is
made after the pattern of Noah's Ark, wherein were all the
different kinds of beasts, clean and unclean alike, with the
exception of fishes. Even so here no fish, that is to say,
no one who is sunk in the waters of unbelief, no idolater,
no one who positively denies Christ, can find a place; nor
can he obtain standing room there, [133^] just as a fish

^ Another version of these lines is quoted by John of Wiirzburg,
who says that they are to be found on a tomb placed in the outer wall
of the church in a corner between the main church and the chapel of
St. John the Baptist.

428 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

cannot live out of water. Only the followers of Christ
abide there, and that whether they be clean in the true
belief, or unclean with heretical depravity, whether they be
of the civilized household of the Catholic faith, or wild
men of the woods of schismatic dissent. Whatsoever race
worships Christ as God, in whatever manner it believes
this dogma, whether it believes Him to be coeternal with the
Father and coequal, or not ; whether it regards Him as
a creator or a mere creature, a real man or a phantom ;
whether they believe that He suffered, or did not suffer ;
that He died, or did not die ; that the sacraments have
any power, or not ; that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ, or
not : every one of these sects finds persons of their own
belief in this church, and are allowed to enter it. At the
present day, if there were to come any sect polluted with
so atrocious a heresy that none of those already in that
holy church would be willing to admit it to their services,
yet the Soldan would assign to this same sect a choir and
abiding-place of its own in that church, even though it
believed Christ to have been a beast and no man, provided
only it said that Christ was its God. There no one is shut
out, no one is turned away : whosoever pays the Saracens
the church fee, five ducats for entrance, he enters in,
however unclean he may be. They will not open the
church to any Christian without payment of the five ducats,
and herein they do not spare even the brethren of Mount
Sion, whom they will not admit without payment of this
fee save at the season when pilgrims visit Jerusalem, with
whom they pass in gratis. At the time when the pilgrims
are away from Jerusalem, the brethren are not able to
change the guardians of the church, but those who are
sent in thither in charge of pilgrims, and are deputed to
be guardians of the holy sepulchre, remain there unrelieved
till the arrival of next season's pilgrims. Those brethren

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 429

who are placed there as guardians cannot go out of the
church, neither can the other brethren come in, unless they
pay the fee ; and the fee must be paid if they wish to
change the guardians.

However, twice a year they throw open the doors of the
church, and admit all Christians gratis, to wit, from Good
Friday until Easter Monday, and from the vigil of the
Invention of the Cross till vespers on the day following.
On those days the church is crowded with men and women
from all the countries of the world, and there is a great
deal of pushing and disorder by reason of the multitude of
people. Then one hears spoken there all the languages of
the world, and at those times a market of precious rarities
is held within the church. Save on these two occasions,
the church is never opened except for ready money: not
as it was long ago when times were different ; for then
Catholic Christians were able to enter it free, at any hour,
nor was any heretic or schismatic, under any pretext,
admitted into that church, either free or for a price. But
since the Lord's sepulchre has been taken by the enemy,
the pilgrims are become prisoners, so that they can do
nothing in Jerusalem save what the Saracens please.

A few years ago it was the custom for the Saracens to
open the church at sunrise, to keep the pilgrims locked up
therein till vespers, and to turn them out at sunset : and
this was bearable ; but now they manage it the contrary
way, for they open the doors for us late, and turn us out in
the morning, which is very troublesome and uncomfortable,
because we get little or no sleep on those nights which we
pass in the church, because of the frequent visits which are
made to the holy places in procession, the long continuance
of Divine service, the yells and strange outcries of the
Eastern Christians, who fill the church all night long with
their discordant clamour, the bargaining of the traders.

430 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

and, lastly, the extraordinary number of the fleas, [li] who
arc jumping all about the pavement, and whenever a man
lays himself down to sleep or to pray, he is straightway
covered with fleas, and can get no rest. Whence they
come I know not, save that perchance they may be bred
naturally from the marble, and it maybe that the guardians
of the church feed them, and do not kill them. After
such a night of toil and watching, the instant we are turned
out we are forced to go on to other holy places which
must be visited, and thus undergo more fatigue, so that
the pilgrims are quite worn out by watching, fasting, and
labouring, and are scarcely allowed time for eating a
morsel of food. Wherefore this rule presses hard upon
them in this respect, although from other points of view it
is better than the other ; for I would much rather be shut
up in the church by night than by day.

THE VARIOUS RACES OF MEN WHO DWELL IN THE
CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE.

As the variety of created beings ornaments the universe,
and displays the wondrous perfection of the- Creator, so the
different nations, manners, languages, and rites would
greatly adorn the Catholic Church, and show the wondrous
perfection of our Redeemer, if only the obstinate and
abominable errors of heathens, heretics, and schismatics
were not found among them, although even these prove
God to be wondrous and perfect. Thus the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre is more beautiful than all the other
churches in the world from the variety of the nations
who praise God therein, yet it is rendered hideous and
shocking by the abominable errors of those who enter it.
In the good old times Christians from all parts of the
world, and speaking all languages, used to enter it, desir-
ing to worship God, without any errors, treacheries, or

I

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 431

superstitions, \^hile excommunicated persons, schismatics,
and outcast heretics, of whom, alas ! the temple is now
full, by whom the holy building is defiled, were then
denied admittance. Plowbeit, there are seven different
kinds of Christians in this church, whereof each has its
own sect, its own ritual, and its own choir, together with
various deadly errors even in the essentials of the faith.
Of these errors it would take long to tell; but should
anyone wish to gain some insight into this matter, let him
read the Book of the Pilgrimage of my Lord the Dean of
Mainz, which was written for him by that eminent and
venerable Doctor of Divinity, Father Martin Roth, of the
Dominican convent of Pforzheim, who, as becomes his
learning, has added to that Book of Pilgrimage a long
and accurate dissertation on the doctrinal errors of the
dwellers in Jerusalem. Hereafter I shall not touch at
all, or only very slightl}^, on this subject, but shall only
tell briefly what places in the holy church are held by
these nations.

THE LATIN CATHOLICS.

The Latin Christians are the first in place: they are
true Catholics, and are called Franks by the Saracens ; they
dwell in this church, and are orthodox in faith, devout pro-
fessed monks, religious men, of the Minorite order, who, as
aforesaid, have a convent on Mount Sion, containing many
brethren; [134 «] that is to say, twenty-four. They live
under the regular rule of their order, supported by the
alms of the devout pilgrims who come thither from
Christendom, and of some believing princes whose devo-
tion towards the holy places and Christian piety moves
them not to omit to send their yearly charitable offerings
thither. Indeed, the late Duke Philip of Burgundy, of
blessed memory, bestowed upon the holy places an annual

432 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

sum of one thousand ducats as long as he lived, for the
salvation of his own soul and the support of the brethren
who serve God there, as did also his son Charles while he
was in this world. So likewise his successor in modern
times, the most illustrious and puissant Lord Maximilian,
Duke of Austria and Burgundy, now of late elected most
glorious King of the Romans, imitating the example of
his predecessors in the Duchy of Burgundy, sends the
brethren their usual subsidy. For an account of these
brethren and their convent, see the description of our
visit to the holy places on Mount Sion within the precincts
of that monastery, on the thirteenth day of this month,
especially on pages 96 d and 108 d.

The brethren, on behalf of all Latin Christians, keep at
least three of their number in the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre, as guardians of the most holy monument.
These friars remain there day and night, and represent the
whole body of the Latin and Roman Church. Their
provisions are handed to them through holes in the door
of the church by the brethren of Mount Sion. They have
the best and most holy places in the church, for they own
the keys of the most precious sepulchre and cave of the
Lord Jesus, and open it to whomsoever they please, and
say Masses in it whenever they choose : nor dare the
priests of other sects celebrate Mass there, save with the
express leave and permission of the Latins. It would
take long to tell how this so remarkable power over the
most holy tomb of the Lord came into the hands of us
Latins. It is not very long since the Georgians bore rule
over the Lord's sepulchre. Indeed, it is a wonder that
the other Christians of the other sects should suffer the
Latins to have these privileges, seeing that there is no sect
of Christians of whom so few dwell in Jerusalem as the
Latins, and that in their way of life, customs, and dress

BROTHER FELIX FABRL

they arc more unlike the Saracens than any other
Christians whatever. Furthermore, three of the lamps
which are always burning in the holy sepulchre belong to
the Latins, and are supplied by them with oil and fire;
the remaining sixteen are kept up by the other sects.
The Latins also own the chapel of the Blessed Virgin,
described above, page iioi?, and there they say jMass and
her hours. Behind this chapel they have a roomy place
for sleeping, cooking, eating, and doing their needs. In
that chapel three lamps are kept burning. On ]\Iount
Calvary the Latins have an altar of their own, and three
L'ghfed lamps upon the rock of Christ. In the place
of the Invention of the Cross of Christ they have one
altar, and one lighted lamp in the cave where Christ's
cross was found. They have also one lighted lamp at the
place [I?] where the Lord's body was anointed after it was
taken down from the cross.

The Bohemians are still in communion with the Latins
in Jerusalem, and when they come to Jerusalem they dwell
with the Latins, and take part in their services, although
they have left the Church of Rome, and their heresies wax
greater every day. So likewise the Glagolae^ dwell with
us, albeit they do not say Mass in Latin, but in their own
mother tongue, because they receive their holy orders at
Rome, and are not heretics.

WHAT PART OF THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE
BELONGS TO THE GREEKS.

The Greeks have the chief place in that holy church,
that is, the choir and head of the whole Anastasis. In

^ ' Glagolita, an ancient Slavonian alphabet, principally used in the
Roman Catholic dioceses of Istria and Dalmatia, in the psalms,
liturgies, and offices of the church. The use of this Hturgy was
confirmed to the priesthood by a bull of Pope Innocent IV'., 124S.
McCIintock and Strong's ' Cyclopedia,' New York, 1873.

28

43+ THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

the primitive church these Greeks were celebrated and

glorious in the faith, having many fine cities, and four

splendid cathedral churches belonging to the Patriarchs of

Antioch, Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Constantinople, which

they long possessed in obedience to the Church. At

length, however, they departed from it, and have fallen

into the worst of errors, even unto blasphemy against the

Holy Ghost, against the order of the sacraments, and the

authority of the Church of Rome. Several times, convicted

by reason, they have returned to the bosom of the Church,.

but have relapsed twelve times, and now, obstinate in their

errors, they live together with the Turks and Saracens,

and pitilessly persecute the Latins in every way that they

■can. Never would the Turks and Saracens have grown so

powerful had not these Greeks been traitors. The other

Eastern Christians would long ago have been brought

back to the unity of the church, and might easily be

brought back at this day if these proud and faithless

Greeks did not prevent them, and lead away again even

those who have been brought back. Yet in spite of these

wickednesses they have the presumption to enter the m.ost

holy church of the Lord's sepulchre, and they who are the

head of transgression have unjustly taken to themselves

the head of the church, and at this day they own the choir

and the high altar, and keep many lamps burning before

it. They also own the Lord's Prison, mentioned above,

page 112 a, wherein they have an altar and one lighted

lamp. On Mount Calvary they have two altars, because

the Georgians, who own the mount, are of their sect. In

the underground chapel of St. Helena they have one

lighted lamp. They likewise own the place where Christ's

garments were parted, and therein one altar and one

lighted lamp. So much for them.

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 435

THE GEORGIANS, WHAT SORT OF CHRISTIANS THEY ARE,
AND WHAT PLACES IN THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY
SEPULCHRE BELONG TO THEM.

The Georgians, who are also called Nubians, and who
are most generally known as Christians of the Cincture,
come from parts very far distant from the Holy Land,
and are warriors, who even train their women to fight.
They are Christians, but tainted throughout with the same
errors as the Greeks. In the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
they own Mount Calvary, and they always have a guardian
of the holy rock shut up in the church. They have not
had this holy place long, but only for the last fifteen
years ; for they offered presents to the King of Egypt,
the Soldan, who turned out the [135 a] Armenians from it
and put in the Georgians in their stead. They also own
the place and cave of the Invention of the Holy Cross,
and three lamps therein, which, however, they seldom
light. They also own the chapel beneath Mount Calvary,
wherein the Latin Kings of Jerusalem were buried, where-
of I have told you on page iiy a.

TPIE JACOBITE HERETICS.

There are also Jacobites in the church, who in their own
countries in the East possess many kingdoms. They are
peculiarly heretical, and err damnably on many points.
They keep up the rite of circumcision ; they administer
the sacrament in both kinds to children at their mother's
breast, and labour under manifold errors about the man-
hood of Christ. These people own a small chapel adjoin-
ing the Lord's monument, wherein they have an altar and
lamps. They likewise own the place where the Lord
was anointed, and have there seven lighted lamps.

28—2

436 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

THE INDIAN CHRISTIANS, OR ABISSINI [sic].

The Abassini [sic], or Indian Christians, who live under
the rule of an abbot, also own a part of our Church of the
Holy Sepulchre. They are men of very austere life, very
poor, and full of errors. Their laity zealously assemble for
Mass on festival days, and thereon all of them, of both
sexes, begin to sing praises, and to jump with their feet
and clap their hands together, assembling together in
circles of six or seven, or as many as nine or ten ; and
sometimes they sing in this manner all night long, more
especially on the night of Christ's resurrection, when they
never cease singing and running to and fro until the dawn
of day, and they do this with such fervent zeal that many
of them fall ill through their labours. But though they
perform these works, and keep these days holy, yet they
are tainted with most pernicious errors, and are heretics
abhorred by the Holy Church. They follow the Jews,
Saracens, and Jacobites in observing the useless, nay,
damnable rite of circumcision, and they brand their
children on the face with a pencil of hot iron, and do not
care to receive baptism with water. These men have a
chapel, in which, beneath the altar, stands the stone
whereon our Lord sat when He was crowned with the
crown of thorns ; and they have a lamp and an altar.
Their chapel and its altars, in which they hold service
daily, is on the left-hand side as you come into the holy
sepulchre, between the columns of the church, shut in,
'nstead of walls, by cloths and mats, and other hangings,
which are suspended by ropes.

THE SYRIAN CHRISTIANS.

The Syrian Christians dwell in miserable slavery under
the rule of various heathen princes, and are tainted by the
errors of the Greeks, whom they imitate. They are

BROTHER FELIX FADRL 437

heretics, faithless, treacherous and thievish, and are jealous
of their wives, like the Saracens. These men also are
with us in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and possess
the chapel of St. Helena, where they perform their service.
They live by the side of the Indians in a tent, surrounded
by cloths and the like.

[b] THE CHRISTIAN ARMENIANS ; OF WHAT SORT

THEY ARE.

The Armenians also share this church with us. They
come from Armenia, and are the implacable enemies of
the Greeks, yet are they not careful to avoid their errors,
nor are they free from them. When they celebrate Mass
they do not mix water with the wine, like the Greeks :
they eat meat on Friday, and they will not keep the
Lord's Nativity as a feast, but fast thereon, giving as their
reason for so doing, that it was on that day that the Lord
was born into the miseries of our life ; but they keep the
Epiphany as a solemn feast, because of Christ's baptism,
and they call this the feast of Christ's spiritual nativity :
wherein also they err. These Armenians, as I said before
when speaking of the Georgians, used to possess Mount
Calvary ; but when they lost it they bought from the
Soldan a place in the upper gallery of the church, where
they have consecrated a choir, and made chambers to
dwell in. The Armenians do not differ from us as much
as some of the aforesaid sects. Indeed, I have heard that
Armenians are often met with who have no priests except
Dominican friars, who are to them bishops, and curates,
and priests, and these are the best of Catholics, having
been converted to the true faith by a brother of our Order,
who has translated into their language the ' Summa Thee-
iogicc' of Thomas Aquinas, and some other books by
Catholic doctors. These Armenians are wont from time
to time to visit the General Master of the Order of St.

^38 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

Dominic, and show themselves to be his children in obe-
dience, and they very devoutly visit the sepulchre of our
father Saint Dominic. This I have been told by many
brethren who have seen them, and have heard them con-
versing with the General in the best way they could, for
they have no Latin^ and are ignorant of the Italian
tongue.

The aforementioned Christian nations remained in Jeru-
salem when the city was taken by the Saracens : the
Latins, the patriarch and the King of Jerusalem, were then
driven out, with all their followers, and the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre was handed over to these Christians,
on condition, however, that they bought the places in
it for which they wished : as indeed they did. So the
confusion of this mixed multitude began in the church in
the year of our Lord 1 187, on the eleventh day of October,
and since then all the aforesaid nations, except the Latins,
have continued to dwell in Jerusalem as subjects and
tributaries to the Saracens. The holy city remained for
many years without the Latin Christians, until Robert,
King of Sicily, bought certain holy places from the Soldan
for much gold, and handed them over to the Minorite
brethren, who possess them even to this day. About
these places see above, page 108 <^.

Besides the nations already mentioned, there are many
in Jerusalem who do not profess the Christian faith, to
wit, Saracens, Jews, Turks, Samaritans, and Mamelukes,
of all of whom a perspicuous account is given by the
oft-mentioned magnificent Lord Bernard of Braitenbach,
who, sparing no expense on the proper composition of his
Itinerary, or Book of his Pilgrimage, procured that vener-
able teacher, enlightened theologian, and graceful orator,
Father Martin Roth (sic), of the Order [136^] of St. Dominic,
who has written the book of the travels of the aforesaid
lord in an ornate and cultured style, and has clearly

BROTHER FELIX FADRT. 439

described the various nations who dwell in Jerusalem with
all their errors, frowardnesses and customs, blaming them
for their errors, and setting forth most valuable theological
doctrines, together with solutions of many difficult points.
He also hired a man of art, named Erhard Rcwich, a most
cunning painter, who has drawn the seaports, cities, places
on land, especially in the Holy Land, and the dresses
of the aforesaid nations to the life, and has fitted his
pictures to the words of the text. He, therefore, who
chooses, may read this book, and will find therein much
•which I have passed over. I will now proceed further with
my own wanderings.

VISIT TO THE HOLY PLACES IN THE CITY OF JERU-
SALEM AND ROUND ABOUT THE SAME.

On the fifteenth day, which is the feast of the Separation
of the Apostles, beginning the day, that is, on the preced-
ing eve, word was sent to all the pilgrims, that at sunset
they must climb to the top of Mount Sion, because our
masters, the guides, wished to take us that same evening
to Bethlehem, When we were all come to the open space
on Mount Sion we found our asses standing there with
their drivers : so each of us ran about shouting and seeking
for his own driver, as I have described on page 84^.

Having got our asses, we stood there and waited for a
long time for our guides, who at last, just as the sun was
setting, came sorrowfully, and told us that Midianites,
Arabs and Bedouins had come up to Bethlehem from
Sodom and the wildernesses about Jordan, and were lying
in wait for us there, that they might fall upon us with arms
in their hands and rob us : wherefore this time we must
needs stay in Jerusalem, until these thievish folk should
depart from Bethlehem. So the beasts were taken away
to their own place, and we made the round of the holy
places of Mount Sion, and prayed long at the place of the

440 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

Separation of the Apostles, whose feast-day was nigh at
hand. About this place see page 104. a.

When the sun had set, the pilgrims went down to their
hospital to rest, but many of them remained with us on
Mount Sion, and kept vigils in the holy places. At mid-
night we rose together with the brethren for the morn-
ing service of lands, after which we began to say private
Masses, each in whatever place he chose, until it grew
light. When the fifteenth day of July began to dawn,
before sunrise, we who were on Mount Sion went down to
the hospital and roused up our brethren the pilgrim lords
for a pilgrimage. When they were ready we came out of
the hospital, with some of the brethren of Mount Sion, and
Calinus Elaphallo, the Saracen, with his stick, who afforded
us safe-conduct, [d] and kept the boys from throwing stones
at us. First of all we went to the courtyard of the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre, and there prostrating ourselves at
the place where Christ fell beneath the cross, as described
above, we received plenary indulgences (i*"f").

THE GATE, OUTSIDE WHICH THE LORD JESUS WAS LED

TO BE CRUCIFIED,

After this we came out of the courtyard into a street
which leads from Mount Sion to Mount Calvary, and from
thence leads down into the city through all its length.
The greatest length of the city is from north to south,
and its least width from east to west. When we had
gone down some way into the town down that street,
up which the Lord Jesus ascended to Mount Calvary,
carrying His cross, we came to an ancient gate, broken on
the right-hand side, whereof no more remained than one
side, reaching from the ground to the curve which supported
the arch, all the rest being gone. Even that part which
remains is now built into some houses, so that we could
not come at it, but stood over against it and looked at it.

BROTHER FELIX FABRL 441

It has been a lofty, great, and well built gate, as we could
see excellently well from its ruins, and was built of squared
hewn stone. This gate, before the enlargement of the
city by y^I£lius Hadrianus, was called the Old Gate, because
it stood there in the time of the Jebusites. Afterwards it
was called the Gate of Judgment, because judgment was
given therein after the manner of the ancients, and those
who had been judged and sentenced therein, were sent out
of it to be executed. Both of these names, which are one
and the same, to wit, the Old Gate and the Gate of
Judgment, are mentioned in the third chapter of the Book
of Nehemiah.

Out of this gate the Lord was led to be crucified, carry-
ing His cross ; wherefore it is said of this gate in the
Epistle to the Hebrews, chapter xiii. : ' Jesus, that He
might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered
without the gate.' Let us human pilgrims then go out
to Him without the gate, bearing His reproach. Who,
I pray you, could behold this gate save with devout
compassion ? From hence Abel went forth to the field of
Afrem^ to be slain. Through this came Isaac carrying
the wood that he might be sacrificed upon the mountain.
Here was seen the cluster of grapes borne upon the staff.
At this gate we repeated the prayers appointed in the
processional, and knelt and received indulgences (f).

THE BOOTHS ON THE WAY TO MOUNT CALVARY, ^YHERE-
IN THOSE WHO WERE GOING TO THEIR DEATH WERE
REFRESHED.

We went on from hence and came to the places where,
at the time when Christ was brought out of the gate there

^ Ephron. In the Middle Ages the scene of Abel's death was
placed at Hebron. Compare John of Wurzburg, ch. 21. Josephus
calls Ephron ' Ephraim,' and Willibald calls Hebron 'Aframia.' See
also Fabri, Part II., page 7 a.

^42 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

stood tents, and when men were brought out to be put to
death, there were some kindly men who paid for wine for
the condemned ones to drink, and they were given strong
wine to drink on this spot, that by drinking it they might
become cheerful, because we are told in the sixth (sic)
chapter of Esdras that 'wine turneth every thought into
jollity and mirth, so that a man remembereth neither
sorrow nor debt, and it maketh every heart rich ' (Esdras I.
iii. 20, 2i). From this place, too, they carried away wine in
cups and pitchers to the place of torture, that the men
might be made drunk there also, as has been told above,
page 112. So likewise does the Talmud bid men do, for
it enjoins that those who are about to die should be made
drunk, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, ' Give strong
drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto
those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink, and
forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more '
(Prov. xxxi. 6). Now, when the Lord Jesus came to these
tents with His cross, and the two thieves who were to be
crucified with Him, they hurried onwards with the Lord
Jesus, but halted with the other two, and brought them
drink : and for the Lord Jesus they brought wine mingled
with myrrh, from the inn which stood at the place of
crucifixion, and offered it to Him, but He would not
receive it, as we read in Matt, xxvii. We do not read
that the other two carried their crosses, but their comrades
carried them for them. But our Lord Jesus bore His own
cross, because all His friends had left Him, and His
acquaintance stood afar off. They were in a greater hurry
with the Lord Jesus than with the others, because Pilate
had given sentence unwillingly, and had been driven, by
their importunities to yield to their will, and they were
afraid that perhaps he might revoke the unjust sentence
which he had given : wherefore they hurried. We stood

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 443

round about this place and prayed, being filled with love
and compassion.

THE HOUSE OF ST. VERONICA.

As we went down the hill from that place we came to
the place of Veronica, who is said to have been the woman
that had an issue of blood for twelve years, who was healed
by privily touching the hem of the Lord's garments, and
whom He called ' Daughter,' and greatly commended for
her faith, as we read in the ninth chapter of St. Matthew.
Some say that this woman was Martha ; but Eusebius, in
the seventh book of his ' Ecclesiastical History,' says that
she who was healed by the Lord, and became His follower,
was Veronica, who was a matron of especial piety and
modesty. She, hearing the noise of the people who were
passing her house with those who were to be crucified,
ran out of doors in tears, and met the Lord Jesus labour-
ing beneath the burden of the cross. Seeing His face
covered with spittle and blood, she drew forth her hand-
kerchief, and wiped the Saviour's face : the image of the
face remained imprinted upon her handkerchief, as though
it had been painted there, which kerchief the woman kept
by her, and drew much solace from it ; and that pictured
face became celebrated for many signs and wonders
wrought by it, and waxed famous. This woman, together
with her kerchief, was brought to Rome at the command
of Tiberius Ccxsar, by the soldier Volusianus ; for Caesar
was stricken down by a heavy sickness, of which as soon
as he had seen that sainted woman, and touched the image,
he was healed. After working this cure she continued to
dwell at Rome till her death, greatly respected for her
holiness and virtue, being one of the founders of the
Church of God, together with the Apostles Peter and
Paul, and Clement. By her will she left the image itself,

444 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

imprinted upon the linen cloth, to Pope Clement and his
successors, and is at the present day in the church of
St. Peter, where it is visited by Christ's faithful people
with the greatest devotion. This sacred napkin has re-
tained the name of the woman to the present day, and
is called Veronica.^ [/;] I saw this ' Veronica ' at Rome on
Ascension Day, 1476.

On this subject many have from time to time written
beauteous songs of praise, chief among which, and most
familiar in men's mouths, is that which runs thus :

' Hail, holy print of our Redeemer's face
Wherein doth shine the splendour of God's grace
Imprinted on a napkin white as snow,
And given Veronica, His love to show.'

So we viewed this house of St. Veronica in a cheerful
spirit, reflecting how, by means of her who dwelt in that
house, the whole Church of Rome hath received glory and
honour, by obtaining from her that portrait of the Saviour,
and how all faithful people throughout the entire world
run to Rome to see this precious face, which no Christian
can look upon and refrain from tears. We stood before
the house and kissed the door, and received indulgences (f).
Howbeit, after the departure of the pilgrims from Jeru-
salem, we who remained behind were admitted into that
house by the Saracen who dwells therein.

THE HOUSE OF DODRUX, THE RICH GLUTTON, WHO
WAS CLOTHED IN PURPLE, ETC.

From hence we went on downwards through the city^
and came to an ancient yet beautiful house, which is said
to have been the house of the rich glutton, whose proper
name was Dodrux, though the Lord was loth to pronounce
it in the Gospel, just as He told the name of the poor

^ Cf. note to line 685, Prologue to Chaucer's ' Canterbury Tales,'
edited by Rev. R. Morris. Clarendon Press Series, iciSi.

BROTHER FLUX FADRI. 445

man, for the reason given by Gregory in his sermon on
that parable. This Dodrux, who was rich and luxurious,
denied to the sick beggar Lazarus even the crumbs wiiich
fell from his table. We looked upon this house with
respect on account of the merits of that poor man, and
received indulgences (f). Moreover, all of us pilgrims,
• both rich and poor, received these examples for the
amendment of our lives ; the rich learned self-denial and
pity from the rich man of pleasure, and the poor man who
died and was buried, while the poor were taught lessons
of hope and patience by the poor Lazarus, full of sores,
who was carried into Abraham's bosom. We are told
about these two men, the rich man and the beggar, in
Luke xvi.

THE CROSSING OF THE WAYS, WHERE THEY COMPELLED

SIMON TO BEAR THE CROSS BEHIND JESUS ; WHICH
PIE DID.

From thence we went onward, and came to a place
where two roads intersect one another, and form a cross,
so that he who stands in the midst of it can walk in any
direction. Christ, when He was come to this crossing of
the ways, was wearied with bearing His cross, and laid it
down that He might have a short rest to regain His
breath. But the villainous Jews were in a great hurry,
for the reason which I have explained under the heading
of the ' Booths ' ; and while He stood there, one Simon of
Cyrene came up, who had been a heathen, and had become
a proselyte, and who was in secret a disciple of Christ.
This man they impressed and forced him to carry the
cross behind Christ, as we read in St. Luke, chapter xxiii.
He most unwillingly bore his Master's cross, because he
was as yet ignorant of its mystery, and of salvation. We
therefore ran up to this place, and both pitied Christ

446 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

and rejoiced with Him : we pitied Him because there
was none to help Him save this Simon, who unwillingly
helped Him to bear the cross ; but we rejoiced with
Him, because there was now not merely one solitary
countryman come from the nearest village to bear the
cross of Jesus, but many barons, nobles, and honourable
men were now here present, [138 «] from distant cities
and castles, all of whom had come hither of their own
accord from parts beyond the sea, all most willingly bear-
ing their Lord's cross. In this place we bowed ourselves
to the earth, and after having said the appointed prayers
we received plenary indulgences (i"f").

On this spot there once stood a church, which now has
been utterly destroyed.

THE PLACE WHERE CHRIST SAID TO THE WEEPING
WOMEN, 'YE DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM,' ETC.

As we went further along that most hard and toilsome
path of the Lord, over which He passed in the passion of
the Cross, we came to the spot where the Lord, while
bearing His cross, hearing and seeing pitiful outcries of
women who were following Him, turned away His eyes
and His face from the raging mob to the women who
loved Him, and were mourning for Him, saying, ' Ye
daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me,' etc. In this
holy place we flung ourselves down upon the ground, and
with sobs and tears kissed the footprints of our Saviour,
and received indulgences (•}-). Here, also, there once stood
a church, of which, however, there are now no traces to
be seen.

THE PLACE WHERE THE BLESSED VIRGIN FELL ALMOST
DEAD WITH HORROR.

As we went further along this holy and sorrowful way,
not without plenteous tears from the devout pilgrims, we

BROTHER FELIX FABRL 447

came to a place where, on the right-hand side of the road,
there is a little hillock whereon the Virgin Mary stood in
the deepest grief, all through the morning on which her
Son was in the hall of judgment before the judge, that
she might see whither He was led away, and might follow
Him. But when she beheld her Son walking between the
two thieves, bearing His exceeding heavy cross, wearing
the crown of thorns upon His head, with His face livid
with blood and befouled with spittle, and surrounded with
troops of armed men, she fell down in her horror and
swooned away. Here we halted with our minds filled with
renewed grief, and after saying the appointed prayers wc
bowed ourselves down to the earth, and kissed the ground
at this holy place, when we received plenary indulgences.
In this place there once stood a stately church, which was
called St. Mary of the Swoon, because she fainted away
there. This church the Saracens have destroyed, leaving
its walls, which were very strongly built of squared stone,
standing, in order that a Saracen might build a house for
himself upon them, because it stands in a pleasant and
high situation : for from the place of Calvary all the v/ay
to the house of the Rich Man is down hill, and from the
place where Simon was forced to bear the cross behind
Jesus, the ground rises all the way to this spot, where
stand the walls of the church with no house raised upon
them. The following strange story is told of this place.
Though many Saracens have tried to build themselves
houses upon those old walls, yet none of them could ever
finish his building, but after all his toil and expense what
he had set up suddenly fell down, and this happened so
often, that no one now attempts to build anything upon this
spot, but they let the ruins of the wall stand unused. As
a proof of the sanctity of this place, and that some day a
church will be built here, it is said that even the stones
cannot be taken away from hence.

44S THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

[li] THE PLACE WHERE OUR LORD WAS SENTENCED TO
DEATH, WHICH IS CALLED GABBATHA, OR THE PAVE-
MENT.

Going on from thence, further along the street, we came
to the place where, at the time of Christ's passion, was the
Seat of Judgment, which was called in Hebrew Gabbatha,
and in Greek Lychostratus, but which is called in Latin,
the Hill of grief, because it was a hill of great sorrow to
those upon whom sentence was passed. This place is
mentioned in the nineteenth chapter of St. John's Gospel.
In this place there stands a high arch, built of squared
stones, reaching from one side of the street to the other,
and covering the street over like a gate. Above the arch
is built a wall as long as a man's body. Into this wall are
built two square white stones, which are of polished marble,
separated one from the other, looking down the street, as
though they had been put into the wall for ornament. At
the time of Christ's passion this place, Lychostratus, was
paved with slabs of marble, and in that pavement there
were two white polished square stones raised above the
rest, one of them beneath the seat of judgment, so that
the judge when sitting on that seat rested his feet upon
the stone, while the other was in the middle of the pave-
ment, and upon it was placed the person who was to be
tried. Round about these stones were benches for the
counsel and judges. So Pilate came out to this place
Gabbatha, to pass sentence of death against Jesus, seated
on the tribunal, and resting his feet upon the stone, and the
Lord Jesus, soon to be borne to His death, stood upon the
stone of culprits. These two stones were taken up by the
faithful, and built into the wall above this arch for a
perpetual remembrance of this deed. So in this place we
bent our knees, and after worshipping the Lord, received

BROTHER FELIX FADRI. 449

indulgences. Here we recalled to our minds the impious
accusations brought against Christ by the Jews, and the
unjust proclamation, and the terror of the unjust judge,
and the silence of Christ, and many other things which
came to pass in this holy place.

THE JUDGMENT-HALL AND HOUSE OF rH.ATE, WHEREIN
THE LORD WAS SCOURGED, CROWNED, AND ABUSED
IN DIVERS WAYS.

When we had finished our prayers in the aforesaid place,
we rose up, passed through the aforesaid arch, and came to
the house of Pilate, wherein every Christian knows what
torment the Lord endured. In it there was the judgment-
hall, whither the Lord Jesus was led, tied fast by hard
bonds, and, with an iron chain about His neck, was con-
fronted with His judge, accused, examined, sent to Herod,
brought back again to this house, questioned, scourged,
crowned with thorns, mocked in divers ways, and when
covered with scorn shown to the people. Wherefore before
the door of that house we bowed ourselves down to the
earth with plenteous weeping, and said the prayer appointed
in the processional, and received plenary indulgences (ft)-
When we arose we kissed the stones of the walls. We
would willingly have entered the house, but they who
dwelt therein would not open it, so we stood without even
as the Jews stood when they delivered up Christ to the
judge. [i39<^] They did this because they would not
enter the house lest they should be defiled and unable to
eat the passover, whereas we longed with all our hearts to
enter it, that we might be cleansed from our defilements
and uncleannesses, and be sanctified ; howbeit, at this
time we were not let in. After the knights had left
Jerusalem, I made my way into it by stratagem, as will be
told hereafter — page 231 b. Although that house, together

29

4;0 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

with all the others, was cast down by Titus, yet some
of the walls remained, upon which, when it was rebuilt, a
new house was placed, and thus the appearance of the
original house was done away. However, the arched door-
way, through which the Lord was brought in and out,
has remained standing, though now the entrance to the
house is not under that arch, but elsewhere, and the old
gate, although still standing, is built up. On the capitals
and arch-stones of the old gate are carved wheels, and
squares, and triangles, as though they were astrological
signs ; and I believe that the ancients carved these figures
for superstitious reasons. At the time of Christ's passion
this house was large, and contained many chambers, but
now it is small enough within, although the place of the
scourging is covered with a vault, and always was so. At
the present day the tenants of the house cast all the refuse
and filth of the household into this holy place. In this
house formerly stood the seven sweating columns men-
tioned on page 113 «. It used to be entered by an ascent
of twenty-eight marble steps. As the Lord was being
dragged in a prisoner with fury and violence, He fell on
the eleventh step upon His holy face, with such force that
blood flowed from His nose and face, and ran on to the
stair. These steps, according to tradition, have been
translated from Jerusalem to Rome, and have been placed
in the church of St. John Lateran, leading up to the Holy
of Holies, and whensoever anyone climbs them he receives
plenary indulgences. The greatest reverence of all is
shown to those stairs, up which pilgrims may not go save
on their bare knees ; and when they come to the eleventh*
step, they prostrate themselves and pray there for a longer
time and with greater fervour than on the others, and kiss
the place where the marks of bloodshed are to be seen :
which place is guarded by iron bars. It is not only

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 451

unlettered and simple people who do this, but great
Cardinals and exceeding learned men climb these stairs in
the aforesaid fashion to obtain indulgences : and they say
that they once stood in the house of Pilate.

THE HOUSE OF KING HEROD, WHEREIN CHRIST WAS
SCOFFED AT AND MOCKED.

Leaving the aforesaid house, and going further along
the street, we came to another street leading upwards from
it. Here we left the street down which we had come from
Mount Calvary, mounted up this street, and came to a
great house, which was the house of King Herod, to which
the Lord Jesus was brought from Pilate up this ascent.
Herein He was scoffed at by Herod's army, mocked with
a white garment, and tormented in divers ways, as we
are told by the Evangelists. It is said that the white
garment of Christ, with which He was mocked in the house
of Herod, was in the shape of the scapular worn by the
Dominicans and Carthusians. We bowed ourselves to the
earth and prayed before this house, [d] and after (f ) having
received indulgences we arose. During my first pilgrimage
I was unable to obtain entrance to this house, because
there was there a school of Saracen boys therein, in which
boys were taught. In my second pilgrimage we were sud-
denly driven away from the house, because the Governor
of the city kept his concubines in it, for which reason, even
after the departure of the pilgrims, we could not gain
admittance to it.

THE HOUSE OF SIMON THE PHARISEE, WHEREIN THE
WOMAN THAT WAS A SINNER REPENTED.

We hurriedly left the house of Herod, that we might not
offend the Governor, and went down again to our former
street, wherein we stopped before the door of a house.

29 — 2

452 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

In this house it is said that the Pharisee dwelt who
desired that Jesus should eat with him, and when He was
there a woman of the city, which was a sinner, came and
did Him wondrous service out of penitence and devotion, as
we read in Luke vii., so that, as Gregory says, the tears of
that sinful woman would soften even a stony heart into
penitence. She made all her beauties into as many sacri-
fices, and turned her many vices into many virtues, that if
any part of her had dishonoured God in sin, all of her
might serve God in penitence. We prostrated ourselves
before the door of this house, and received indulgences (f).
There seems to be a discrepancy among the Evangelists
with regard to this house. Luke, in his account of the
matter, appears to imply that it took place in Jerusalem.
But in Mark xiv., John xii., and Matthew xxvi., it is said
to have taken place at Bethany, in the house of Simon the
leper. Hence some learned doctors, for example Jerome
(' Contra Jovinianum,' chapter xlvi.), say that the Evange-
list Luke speaks of some other woman, not of Mary
Magdalen, who is mentioned by the other three, and who
did her service in Bethany, whereas it was another woman
who did so in this house. The places shown as holy places
agree with this, because we are here shown the house
of Simon the Pharisee, and in Bethany we are shown the
house of Simon the leper. Unless — which I myself am
more inclined to believe to be true — one prefers rather to
say that Mary Magdalen came to this house at the out-
set of her conversion, and washed the Lord's feet with her
tears, that it was afterwards, near the time of His passion,
that she poured the ointment upon His head as He sat
at meat, and that she who did this was one and the same
woman.

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 453

THE SCHOOL OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN, \VHEREIN SHE
LEARNED HER LETTERS ; WITH A DISCUSSION OF
THE QUESTION AS TO WHETHER SHE LEARNED
LETTERS OR NO.

Rising up from our prayer at the aforesaid house, we
hurried forward on our way, and came to another large
house, built of squared, hewn and carved stone, which
house adjoins the courtyard of the temple of the Lord.
This house is said to have been the school of the blessed
Virgin, wherein she learned her letters when she was
presented by her parents to the servants of the temple
that she might be bound over to the service of God. We
viewed this house with admiration, and a doubt arose
in our minds as to whether the blessed Virgin Mary learned
her letters from any man, and what Jew could have been
her schoolmaster, since we read in the seventh chapter
of the Book of Wisdom : ' The Creator of all things hath
taught me wisdom.' [140 «] For the Lord of all things
loved her, therefore she herself is ' a teacher of His ways '
(Wisdom viii.).

From this it would appear that she was not taught by
man. Moreover, Damm tells us that the blessed Virgin
was not outdone in learning by any of the great ones of
the Church. Indeed, there have been some holy men who
have not been taught by man, but by the revelation of
Jesus Christ, as St. Paul tells us that he was taught in the
first chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians. Solomon,
too, learned wisdom, not from man, but by Divine inspira-
tion. All the other Apostles also became the teachers of
the world by divinely inspired learning. Moreover, St.
Thomas Aquinas says that he learned more by prayer
than by reading. So, too, St. Catherine of Siena was
taught by the Lord Jesus, and could read books and the

454 ^^HE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

Scriptures, yet she knew not the name or powers of any-
one letter, and could not tell ' a ' from ' b,' or * b ' from * c/
which proves her teaching to have been miraculous. St.
Mary of Egypt likewise, when in the desert, learned the
Scriptures by Divine revelation. " Wherefore, then, beloved
brother-wanderer, dost thou show me the school wherein
thou sayest that the blessed Virgin Mary learned her letters .''
If she was not surpassed in learning by any of the greatest
theologians, how could she have been taught by man ?
Seeing that others have gained knowledge of the Scriptures
by inspiration, what Jew would have been the teacher of
her who from the beginning of her ways possessed eternal
wisdom ?" " Pause, my beloved brother, and do not by
any means scorn this house, but believe it to have been
the school of the blessed Virgin. Though she was worthy
to be a teacher of men, yet for humility's sake she
deigned to become a scholar, even as she underwent purifi-
cation according to the law, not of necessity, but out of
humility. Thus likewise the Lord Jesus, with His eternal
wisdom, sat among the doctors, hearing them and asking
them questions ; albeit, neither by listening to them, nor
by questioning them, could he add to His knowledge." So
we went up to the wall of that house, and kissed it, and
received indulgences (f), and said the appointed prayers.

THE TEMPLE OF THE LORD, WHICH IS CALLED THE
TEMPLE OF SOLOMON.

Going a little further on from thence, we came to a place
where, on the right-hand, was a vaulted passage. This
passage was whitewashed, and in it hung lighted lamps.
We stood outside this passage, and looked through it
hito the temple courtyard, and saw, too, the temple itself,
which is called Solomon's temple. So we bent our knees

BROTHER FELIX FABRL 455

and worshipped the true Lord of that temple, and received
there ('f"f-) plenary indulgences.

Although at the present day this temple is used as a
mosque, and the accursed Mahomet is worshipped there, yet
once it was an exceeding holy church, as it will some day
be again, and has been hallowed by many miracles wrought
therein by our Saviour. For this reason the indul'^ences
hold good in spite of IMahomet, because the church stands
in a most sacred place, and was built and consecrated to
Christ long ago. About this temple, and its description,
and who built it, and its model, I shall tell you on
page 257 rt and the following pages. As for the Saracen
mosques, which the Canons calls ' mesquitas,' see the
'Speculum Historiale,' Book XXIV., chapter Ixxxii. ; and
also Part II., page 104, of this work.

THE BIRTHPLACE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY ABOVE

THE SHEEP-POOL.

[(i^J We were soon driven away from our view of the
temple, for the Saracens cannot endure with patience that
we should look upon this temple, or that we should even
come nigh it on any pretence. We therefore went away
from it, and, going along the street, entered another street
to the left, where we came to a great church, connected
with which is a goodly monastery, with all the offices
connected by a cloister. Here once dwelt nuns of the
Order of St. Benedict, who were wealthy and pious. Be-
neath this church is the birthplace of the blessed Virgin
Mary, because here stood the house of Joachim and Anna.
The Saracens have made this church into a mosque, and
therefore they will not allow us to enter it. So we stood
before the door of the church and said the appointed
prayers, and received plenary indulgences (ft). However,
after the pilgrims had gone home, we who remained behind

456 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

in Jerusalem did manage to get into this church, but in
secret, and with great difficulty, as will be found described
on page 230/^, where, also, there is a description of the
place and convent.

It should be noted that the Saracens make special
efforts to blot out this church even from the memories of
Christians, because therein is a proof of the untruthfulness
of the Alkoran ; for the Alkoran says that the blessed
Virgin Mary was the daughter of Miriam, the sister of
Aaron and Moses, which is an utterly false imagination, as
may be seen in the text of the Alkoran, Book I., chapter i.,
and Book III., chapter xvii.

THE SHEEP-rOOL OF BETHSAIDA, \sic\ WHERE THE
PALSIED MAN WAS HEALED.

We were led along a narrow lane close beside that
ehurch, and knocked at the door of a house in which
dwelt some poor Saracens, who opened the door, but would
not let us come in unless we first gave them some pence.
After this had been done, we went in, and descended some
stone stairs into a small court or open space, which once
was enclosed by walls, and still is so in part. Round
about it there are arched doors. On this spot, in the
days of Christ, was the sheep-pool, called in Hebrew
Bethsaida, where the Lord Jesus healed the man who
was sick of the palsy, as is told in John v. This pool
contained the water which in rainy weather ran off the
roof of the temple, and in it the sheep and other beasts
which were offered in sacrifice in the temple were washed.
Moreover, Solomon caused the wood which the Sibyl
showed him, and whereon she prophesied that Christ should
suffer, to be plunged into the depths of this cistern. There
it lay hid up to the time of Christ's passion, when it rose
to the surface of the water, and was taken out and made.

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 457

into Christ's cross. It is supposed that it was on account
of the reverence due to this wood that an angel came
down from heaven and troubled the water, after which
troubling the first man who entered it was healed. There
the Lord healed one who had awaited the troubling of the
water for thirty-eight years, as we are told in John v.

At the present day this cistern contains no water, but in
the midst of it a kind of tank has been made to catch the
rain-water. So here we said the prayers appointed in the
processional, received indulgences (-f-), kissed the ground,
and went up the stairs again, and back again into our
former street. [141 d\ Entering another street on the
opposite side of it, we came to a large cistern, full of
water, which was there in ancient times, and which is
called in Scripture ' the inner pool,' which was made by
Hezekiah, King of Judah, and into it besides rain-water
he brought the water of the upper water-course of Gihon,
hewing a conduit through the rock with iron, as we read in
Ecclesiasticus xlviii. 17, and 2 Kings xx. 20.^ Indeed,
from old times even until now, cisterns have been made
in Jerusalem with great care to hold the water which runs
into them from the roofs in wintry and rainy weather, that
the city may have water in summer-time : for the holy
city hath no water of its own, and drinks only rain-water,
or water brought from a distance. I fancy that at the
present day more pains are taken than ever before to
supply the holy city with water, because the Saracens
make use of daily washings and dipping of theniselves in
water, more than is the custom of the Jews : wherefore
they have many washing-places, and bring water into
Jerusalem with wondrous skill. This will be shown on
page 249 a.

5 2 Chron. xxxii. 2'^.

458 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

HERE FOLLOWETH THE PILGRIMAGE THROUGH THE
VALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT.

After we had seen that cistern we went on our way, and

came to the end of the city on the north side at the gate

which once was called the Gate of Ephraim, because the

way to Mount Ephraim leads through it ; but now it is

called the Gate of St. Stephen, because he was led out of

it and stoned in the valley beyond it. Through this gate

leads the road to Sichem, Samaria, and the province of

Galilee. So we went out of this gate, and as soon as we

were outside, we left the northern roads along which the

gate looks, and turned aside to the eastward towards

Mount Olivet, having the holy city on our right hands as

we walked. When we came to the corner of the wall

where the northern wall joins the eastern one, we turned

our faces away from the east, and looked along the wall

towards the south, where we saw another great city gate

on the east side, whose lofty tower has been thrown down

and ruined. This gate is termed the Golden Gate, and

through it the Lord Jesus entered the city on Palm

Sunday, sitting upon an ass, while beneath it Joachim and

Anna met together in obedience to a former command^

because they had been told by a divine oracle that of them

the Virgin Mary should be born. Moreover, it was here

also that the following glorious miracle took place : When

the Emperor Heraclius, having conquered his enemies,.

and regained the cross which had been taken by the

Persians, wanted to ride on horseback through this gate in

imperial state, he no sooner came up to the gate than

the stones joined themselves together, and became a closed

solid wall : nor could he enter until he had laid aside all

■worldly pomp, when at last, barefooted and humbled, he

BROTHER FELIX FABRL 459

was permitted to enter with all his army, bearing the
Lord's cross.

Up to this gate the Lord was led in triumph, from the
Mount (of Olives) to the temple, with palms and green
boughs, as also we read in the thirteenth chapter of the
First Book of Maccabees that Simon entered it ; and in the
Second Book of Maccabees, and the tenth chapter, we read
of the green boughs and palms. The Saracens will not
allow us to come near this [Z*] gate, and we could by no
means obtain leave to go thither, because without it is the
Saracen burying-ground, over which they will not suffer
Christians to walk. However, we knelt looking towards it
from afar off, and after worshipping God received plenary
indulgences (ft). These indulgences are given to every-
one who stands opposite this gate afar off, and worships it,
as many times as he does it. It is believed that the
ruinous walls which now stand there are indeed the ruins
of the true Golden Gate, through which the Lord entered,
sitting on an ass ; because Titus, when he destroyed
Jerusalem, left some towers standing for fortresses and
watch-towers, whereof the tower of the Golden Gate was
one, and was left standing together with its wood-work.
This wood-work is at the present day covered with plates
of gilded copper. The Saracens cut off pieces and scraps
of these plates and nails, and sell them to the Christians,
because many Christians take great pains to get a piece of
that gate, and often risk their lives by going thither at
night and tearing little pieces off it. Some lavish their
money instead, and bribe some Saracen to pluck morsels
off the gate, and to give them copper or wood in return
for gold or silver. The reason why relics from this gate
are so dear is because it is said (whether it be a vain
superstition or not, I cannot tell) that whosoever carries
about a morsel of that gate with him will be proof against

46o THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

apoplexy, falling sickness, and plague. In days of old,
when the Christians possessed Jerusalem, a great feast was
celebrated at this gate on Palm Sunday. On the previous
Saturday, or vigil of Palm Sunday, all the clergy went
forth to Bethany, and kept the vigil all night in the church
of St. Lazarus. In the early dawn they went forth in
procession from Bethany to Bethphage, where they set one
of the great bishops, dressed in his priestly vestments,
upon an ass, and went in procession towards the holy
city. As they came down from the Mount of Olives, the
rest of the clergy and religious orders, with all the populace
of the city, came in procession to meet them, carrying
boughs of palm, and after the fashion spoken of in the
Gospel, they cut boughs from the olive-trees and strewed
them in the way, and spread out their garments in the
way, crying, ' Hosanna !' etc. When they came up from
the valley towards the gate, the gate used to be shut, and
young men stood upon the tower thereof, singing Gloria^
iaus, etc. When they had done singing this hymn they
brought the bishop into the temple with great rejoicings.
After the loss of the holy city, and the driving out of the
Latins from thence, the Armenians continued to celebrate
this festival with their bishop for many years, until at the
instigation of the devil they (the Saracens) began to bury
their damned dead here, after which they blocked up the
gate. Nowadays, therefore, they hurry through Palm
Sunday in the following manner : On that day itself, after
divine service and the eating of food, the brethren of
Mount Sion go out to Bethany, thence walk in singing
procession up to Bethphage, [142 ci] where they set one of
the brethren in his priestly vestments upon an ass, and
accompany him towards the city singing praises. As
they descend the Mount of Olives the other Eastern
Christians run to meet them with boughs of palm and

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 461

olive, and with strewing of garments in the way, and lead
him as far as the brook Cedron, where the procession ends,
for they dare not mount up towards the city singing praises
in this fashion, lest the Saracens should break up their
procession by pelting it with stones. It is wonder enough
that they suffer them to do thus much, for a hundred or
even fifty years ago they would not have permitted it, and
as little as twenty years ago the Christians had not as
much liberty as they now have. May God make it still
greater, for His own praise's sake, that the mouths of those
who sing of Him in these most holy places may not be
for ever shut.

THE PLACE WHERE SAUL KEPT THE CLOTHES OF
THOSE WHO STONED ST. STEPHEN.

Passing quickly by the Golden Gate, we came down a
steep, rough and stony path to a place where stands a
stone, the top whereof is flat. Upon this stone those
butchers, who were about to stone the holy protomartyr
Stephen, laid down their clothes that they might more
readily throw stones and slay the saint with harder blows.
Saul, being a young man, witnessed this sight, and being
filled with a burning zeal for Judaism, kept watch over all
their clothes, in order that they might throw stones freely,
and thus he might be of more use to them than anyone
else. So Saul sat upon the clothes upon this stone, raging
against Stephen and blaspheming Christ. We therefore
kissed this place and received indulgences (f).

THE PLACE WHERE ST. STEPHEN WAS STONED.

From thence we went down a little lower, towards the
brook Cedron, and came to the place where Stephen was
stoned, where he prayed on his knees for his stoners, and
received their stones with joy : wherefore the hymn says of

4'';2 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

him : Lapides iorrentis illi dukes /uennit. We are told
by St. Auj^ustine how great was the value of St. Stephen's
prayer ; ' had Stephen not prayed, the Church would have
lost Paul.' So in this place we kissed the very stones,
and received Indulgences (-f-) ; indeed, the place is full of
very clear pebbles from the brook. Here once stood a
venerable church, whose ruins can scarcely be traced at
this day, though on the left-hand some walls still remain.
This place is exceeding sacred, forasmuch as in this place
Stephen was the first to repay to the Saviour the death
which the Saviour deigned to undergo for all men.

THE VALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT AND THE BROOK CEDRON.

Proceeding onwards from hence, we went down into the
valley of Jehoshaphat as far as the brook Cedron. This
valley has another name, Cela, according to Jerome, and
the brook Cedron is called Chrinarus. It is called the
valley of Jehoshaphat because the King Jehoshaphat
caused a stately sepulchre [5] to be hewn out there for
himself, which I shall describe on page 176. The bottom
part of this valley is called the brook Cedron, which brook
in summer-time is dried up and parched, but in winter
runs with water from the melting snow. It is said that
once upon a time cedars were planted along the banks
of that brook, and that after them it was named Cedron,
that is, ' of the cedars.' This valley and brook come from
the northward and stretch along towards the south. They
part the mount of the city and temple, and the hills of
Sion and Gihon, from the Mount of Olives and the Mount
of Offence. They are continued by the valley of Siloam
and the valley of Hermon, which bends towards the east,
and reaches as far as Sodom. Wherefore the brook
Cedron, whenever it contains any water, sends its waters
down into the Dead Sea, by a long winding course through

BROTHER FELIX FADRI. 463

this crooked valley. Some declare that the brook Cedron
once had waters always flowing in it, and that at ihe
present day it has an underground channel, because the
bottom of the valley has been choked up with ruins by the
many destructions of the holy city, underneath which ruins
they say that the brook continually flows. This I do not
believe to be true, because I have gone along that valley
all the way down to Sodom, a long way from Jerusalem,
through exceeding deep torrent-beds, where no ruins have
ever been cast down, and yet I could not see a single drop
of this ever-flowing water, but only a dry torrent-bed,
through which water runs regularly in its season. Nor
can anyone doubt that if this channel had in old times
had water always running in it from a fountain, Holy
Scripture would not have been silent about it ; or if there
were still a perpetual run of water beneath the earth, the
people of Jerusalem would call in the aid of all the
Easterns, and would dig down to its banks, seeing that
living waters are precious in Jerusalem, and the people
stand in need of them, and long ago some device would
have been contrived whereby these waters might have been
carried straight up into the city, even as the waters of the
fountain of Siloam, which are said by Nicholas de Lyra to
have once flowed up into the city above them ; which
appears to me to be very strange, because that fountain
lies deep down at the foot of Mount Sion.

These aforesaid valleys, this torrent-bed and fountain of
Siloam, and the mountains spoken of a little while ago,
will often be mentioned hereafter : wherefore I have
thought fit to make this short preface, for the better under-
standing of what follows. Now, when we had come to the
bottom of the valley, we crossed over the brook by the
stone bridge, which is built upon arches, and came to the
foot of the IMount of Olives. When we had gone up it a

464 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

little way from the brook, we came to the Dragon Well, of
which we read in the second chapter of Nehemiah. At
this place I discoursed to m.y lords the knights about the
zeal of Nehemiah : how he came to Jerusalem out of
captivity from a far country, and rode round about the
city by night to view its ruins, and stood beside that well
considering how with the leave of Artaxerxes, the king, he
might rebuild the walls of Jerusalem which had been thrown
down, and the ruined towers, the levelled gates, the deso-
late houses and the burnt temple. This work of his is
a reproach to our princes, who take no heed about the
recovery [143 a] of the holy city, as though we had no
need of it. I do not remember anywhere to have read
why this well is called the Dragon Well ; but I suppose
that it was because it once had water running from some
spring, from which the waters were brought into this
cistern through dragons or snake-like curved pipes. So
also the district of Drachonitis (Trachonitis) is so called
because it has no waters save such as are brought through
dragons — that is, snaky underground passages,

THE CHURCH OF THE MOST BLESSED MARY THE VIRGIN,
IN THE VALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT.

Thence we went upon our way, but turned down to our
left hand to the church of the sepulchre of the most blessed
Virgin, which is hewn out of the stony rocks, deep in the
bowels of the earth. Some say that when it was begun to
be built it was not beneath the earth, but above it, and
that it has been covered over by the earth brought down
by the rain-water from the Mount of Olives, and by the
filling up of the valley. Above the entrance there is a
building made in the likeness of a chapel, and before the
door there is a courtyard paved with square slabs of marble.
We went down into this cave, and hurried towards the

BROTHER FELIX FADRI. 465

entrance to the church, but when we came to the church
door we found it locked, and no guardian of the church
there. However, some Saracens who were sitting at the
door told us that he would be there presently. Indeed,
the door-keeper of this church is a Saracen, who has
inherited this office from his father, whom what follows
befell. This Saracen — I mean the father of him who is
now door-keeper — as a reward for some service, received
from the Soldan the gift of this church, that he might
make money from the pilgrims who visited it. So when
he became possessed of the church, and saw that the
Christians were exceeding zealous to visit it, he raised
the ^um which those who entered it were wont to pay,
so much, that he wanted each person who came in to pay
no less than three ducats. In consequence of this burden
the pilgrims gave up visiting this church, no one entered it
any more, and the place became almost forgotten. liut
on one night the blessed Virgin Wary appeared in a dream
to that greedy Saracen, and most bitterly upbraided him,
saying : ' Oh enemy of God, lost both in mind and body,
perverter of the law, that takest away the honour due to
me, how hast thou waxed so rash as to presume to shut
my doors against my servants the pilgrims ? Arise, there-
fore, swiftly, and throw open the doors of my sepulchre to
all pilgrims without money and without price, otherwise
thy body shall be filled full of worms, and thy house shall
soon be made desolate.' Saying thus she disappeared.
The Saracen, full of fear, awoke, arose trembling, revealed
all to his family, the words which he had heard, and
forbade them thenceforth to deny entrance to the
church to any Christian, but bade them open it to all free
of charge, and this he enjoined upon his posterity after
•him. [b] So it has been done even to this day. Now as
xve stood at the church door there came to us a Saracen, a

30

466 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

man well stricken in years, the son of the aforesaid man to
whom the blessed Virgin appeared. He unlocked the
door, and let us go in, saying to each man in his own
tongue : ' Go, worship God, and praise the Virgin Mary.'
When we entered the door we went down fifty-two marble
steps into a deep cave, and while we were going down
them the precentor began in a loud voice to sing the hymn
' 0 gloriosa dominal etc.

We followed him, singing with great joy, and came
to the sepulchre of the most blessed Virgin, in the midst
of the church. We entered it one after the other, kissed
the holy tomb with the greatest devotion, and with thanks-
giving received a plenary (-f-f-) indulgence. After the
hymn ' O gloriosa domina^ etc., we sang ' Salve regina*
and other hymns. We were very merry in this holy place^
and sang cheerfully. I have never heard so sweet and
musical an echo as here, and in the cave of the Invention
of the Cross, as I have already noted. I have at times
been in this church alone for one or two hours, and have
prayed or sung as I pleased, for the voice of one who sings
there cannot be heard above. I have often noticed, as
indeed I have often been in that church, that pilgrims are
always merrier and more joyous there than in the other
holy places : and rightly are they so, for from this place
the glorious Virgin ascended into heaven, where unspeak-
ably exalted she reigneth with Christ world without end.
' On this spot,' says Jerome, ' the queen of the v/orld was
snatched away from this wicked life, wherefore rejoice,
because being certain of her own imperishable glory she
went from hence to the palace of heaven, and translated
her glory thither from this present world to the end that she
mieht with confidence intercede for our sins. No one can
doubt that at the moment of the Assumption of the most
blessed Virgin all the heavenly Jerusalem rejoiced with

BROTHER FELIX FADRI. 467

ineffable joy, and made merry with all thanksgiving. It
is believed that the Saviour Himself came swiftly hither
with all the armed host of the kingdom of heaven, restored
her to life by reuniting her body and soul, and with joy
placed her beside Ilim on His throne.' Nor ought we to
think that it was by chance that the most blessed Virgin
Mary chose her place of sepulture in the valley of
Jchoshaphat, but to the intent that the sinner who fears to
stand in this valley on the dreadful day of Judgment
which is to come, may now take up his place beforehand
in that valley, and pray to the IMother, show forth his
obedience to her, and thus cease to fear being called into
this valley a second time if he shall obtain the favour of
the iMother who will be his judge. The blessed Virgin left
behind her for our consolation her veil and clothing, which
at the instance of the empress Helena have been trans-
lated to Constantinople by Juvenalis the Patriarch of Jeru-
salem.

DESCRIPTION OF THE CHURCH AND SEPULCHRE OF THE
BLESSED VIRGIN IN THE VALLEY OF JEIIOSIIAPHAT.

The church of the blessed Virgin in the valley of
Jchoshaphat is called the church of the Assumption, and
beside it was once a monastery of monks of the order of
St. Bene't, and a mitred Abbot ; but now not even the ruins
of this monastery can be seen, but there are gardens of
olives and iig-trees round about the church. The church
itself, as I have said, is now underground, although in former
times it was not so, as is clear when one looks at the walls,
[144 rt] wherein the windows still remain, though without
light, because the floods of rain-water bringing down earth
from the mountains have covered it up, and it receives no
light, save that at its east end there is an opening made
up to the sky, and through this hole light enters it, and

.^0—2

468 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

lights only one corner of the church. This opening is
surrounded in its upper part with an enclosing wall just
as though it were a cistern. This church, according to
Jerome in his sermon on the Assumption, is wondrously
built of marble slabs, but on that side which lies to the
northward of the sepulchre it is not cased with marble,
but there is to be seen the bare rock from which the
sepulchre was hewn out. The church is lofty and vaulted,
and contains many altars. The Virgin's sepulchre stands
in the midst of it, and is a small chamber, like the Lord's
sepulchre, splendidly ornamented and lighted with lamps,
more even than the Lord's sepulchre itself. It has two
entrances ; one leads from the west opposite the holy tomb,
which stands on the eastern side of it, having the 'head
towards the south, and the feet towards the north. There
is another door on the north side, and one goes in through
the one, and out through the other, which is not done in
the Lord's sepulchre. Masses also are said in the sepulchre
itself, like as they are in the Lord's sepulchre. I myself
have celebrated many Masses therein, and all Christians, of
whatever sect they may be, are allowed to celebrate Mass
there, and that place is not appropriated by any sect ; but
the other altars throughout the church belong to various
sects, for the altar which is nearest to the sepulchre belongs
to the Armenians ; a second, beneath a dark vault, belongs
to the Georgians. A third, under a window in the east
end of the choir, belongs to the Greeks ; a fourth, in the
corner on the north side, belongs to the Latins, and a fifth,
near the first step of the staircase, belongs to the Indians.
There is a costly tomb of polished white marble, wherein
is buried the venerable Queen Milicent, who built this
church. On either side of the stairs there are decorated
tombs, and some declare that in one of them Anna, the
mother of the blessed Virgin, in the other Joachim, her

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 469

father, are buried. In the church itself there is a deep
cistern, containing cold and clear water, and those who
say that the brook Ccdron has its course underground, say
also that this water comes from this underground brook ;
in proof of which, when a man is alone in that church, and
holds his ear above the mouth of the cistern, he seems to
hear the sound of water trickling below the earth. Others
say this fount holds water which runs from Paradise in
honour of the blessed Virgin, and for our comfort. At
any rate it cannot be rain-water, because that cistern is too
deep down in the bowels of the earth. So much for it.
See, if you wish it, a further account of these matters under
the head of the Assumption Day.

THE PLACE WHERE ST. THOMAS THE APOSTLE RE-
CEIVED THE BLESSED VIRGIN's GIRDLE.

When we had finished our thanksgiving in that holy
church, we went up the stairs again, and of our own accord
gave some pence to the Saracen door-keeper of the church,
to encourage him [b'] to let Christian pilgrims enter it, and
leaving the churchyard, turned our faces towards Mount
Olivet, going up its side. When we had climbed up a
little way, we came to the place where St. Thomas is said
to have stood at the hour of the Assumption of the blessed
Virgin. Hearing the harmony of the heavenly host he
looked up, and beheld the mother of the Lord ascendinsf
into heaven, as well with her body as with her soul. She
flung her girdle to him, to strengthen his faith, which he
received with unspeakable joy, and showed to his fellow
Apostles, convincing them of the truth of her Assumption
in the body as well as the soul. As by touching the
wounds of Christ in glory he hath confirmed our faith in
His resurrection, even so by this deed he hath confirmed
our piety towards the Assumption of Mary. So in this

470 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

place we read the appointed prayers, kissed the earth, and
received indulgences (-|-).

THE PLACE OF CHRIST'S PRAYER AND OF HIS AGONY
ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES, AND HOW THE PIL-
GRIMS PRAYED THERE.

Going on a little way further from thence, among the dry
stone walls of gardens on the side of the holy mount, we
came to the mouth of a cavern in the rocks, entering which
we found a fair and roomy grotto, not made by art, or hewn
out of the rock by men's hands, but formed and arranged
by the Creator from the beginning, that it might be a place
meet for prayers, meditation, and reflection, and fitting for
one who desires solitude. The Lord Jesus often left the
city by night and entered this cave, wherein He passed
the night in most holy vigils and prayers. It was to this
cave that Nicodemus came by night to visit the Lord
Jesus, and held that discourse with Him upon the deepest
questions of theology, which has been preserved by John
the Evangelist in his third chapter. This is the place
which Judas knew, because the Lord often went forth
thither with His disciples, as we are told in John xviii.
So in the night following the Last Supper Jesus came
forth from the city across the brook Cedron, where was a
garden, and in it a cavern, into which He entered, and
kneeling upon the ground, bowed Himself down in prayer,
prostrating Himself, and saying in a tearful voice: 'Abba,
Father, all things are possible unto Thee ; take away this
cup from Me : nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou
wilt.' After having offered this prayer three times, being
in an agony. He prayed more earnestly, and sweated blood
through sorrow, grief, and dread, and there appeared an
angel unto Him from heaven, comforting Him. Oh my
lords and brother pilgrims, what shall we do here ? How

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 471

shall we show ourselves to our Redeemer in this holy
and dreadful place ? With what gestures, what move-
ments, what postures shall we pray ? Surely with no
other than those wherewith He who hath hallowed this
place showed Himself to His Heavenly Father. It is
clear to one who reads the Gospels with care, that in His
three prayers Christ made use of three different postures.
First He fell upon His face, [145 <z] prostrating His whole
body, according to Matthew, The second time He fell
upon the earth, leaning upon His elbows, according to
Mark. The third time He prayed more at length, resting
upon His knees, according to Luke. Fourthly, He rose to
His feet, repeating that sweetest of prayers, when raising
His eyes to heaven He said, ' Father, the hour is come ;
glorify Thy Son,* John xvii., which some say was done in
the garden at the end of His prayers in the presence of all
the disciples. Wherefore using these gestures the pilgrims
prayed for a longer while in this most holy place, and
wept more freely than was their wont ; for this place is
wondrously apt to stir the tears of those who pray, because
there seems to inhale from it a strange sweetness which,
when smelt, softens a man's whole being, and renders his
heart gentle. Nor need we wonder at this, for we know
for a truth that therein was shed the swcet-smellinc:
balm of His most precious bloody sweat, by which the
dead shall be raised to life ; for Albertus tells us that that
blood poured through His clothing and fell to the ground,
to the end that it might run into the ashes of the dead and
bestow upon them the power of resurrection. After we
had said the appointed prayers we kissed the place wherein
the Lord Jesus knelt, and we also viewed with respect and
kissed a rock which juts out into the cave, upon which it
is believed that the angel stood who comforted the Lord,
and we received {ff) plenary indulgences.

472. THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

This grotto is round in the inside, and of a good size.
In it, on the left-hand side, there are other caves of con-
siderable depth, wherein the disciples often slept while
Christ prayed, not on the last night only. They were in
the cave with Him, but He was withdrawn from them
about a stone's cast. At the head of the grotto there juts
out from the wall an exceeding hard rock, whereon stood
the angel who appeared to Christ. Beneath this rock
there is an altar, whereon Mass is sometimes said. In old
times the walls of this grotto were painted, as may be
made out at the present day by diligent examination.
Cnce there might be seen on the floor the traces of the
knees of the Lord Jesus, miraculously imprinted on the
hard rock ; but these can no longer be seen because of the
destruction caused by pilgrims, who break off pieces from
the holy places. From the floor to the overhanging rock
measures a fathom and a half. This grotto is sufficiently
lighted through the doorway by which one enters it, and
by a large rift on the left-hand side in the rock which
covers it.

THE PLACE WHERE THE LORD BEGAN TO BE SORROW-
FUL AND HEAVY, AND SAID, ' MY SOUL IS EXCEED-
ING SORROWFUL,' AND WHERE THE THREE DISCIPLES
FELL ASLEEP.

Pilgrims are led through the localities of Christ's passion
in such an order that they may meet their Lord, and go to
meet Him as He comes towards them. If the guides led us
along the paths of Christ in the same order in which the
Lord Himself was led over them, it would be easy to
describe them, and to give an intelligible description of
these holy places. But as the procession goes in the
contrary direction, it is difficult to describe them. Let us
then go forward to meet our Saviour. We came out of

BROTHER FELIX FADRI. 473

the aforesaid grotto, and departed from it about a stone's
cast [d] along the side of the Mount of Olives ; for by this
space Christ was separated from His disciples when lie
went to the aforesaid place, as wc are told in Luke xxii.
In this place the Lord Jesus stood with His three disciples,
and began to be sorrowful, fearful, heavy, and ill at case,
and said, ' My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto
death: watch with Me whilst I go and pray.' He then
went forward a little way into the grotto ; but the three
disciples went to sleep. In this place we bowed ourselves
to the earth, and kissed the most holy footsteps of the
Lord Jesus. We also, out of devotion, sat down in the
place where the disciples slept ; for in that place there are
some rocks raised a little above the ground, against which
a man sitting on the ground can lean his back and arm.
and rest himself So here we said the appointed prayers,
and received plenary indulgences (ff), and were taught by
wholesome examples. For indeed prayers avail but little,
and indulgences have small value, nay, the whole labour of
pilgrimage is in vain, if a man in these most holy places
doth not meditate upon the examples with which he meets,
and take them to heart for the amendment of his own
life.

This great sorrow of Christ teaches us to abjure the
gaiety of the world, for in the words of Gregory (the great)
the world's gaiety is only unpunished wickedness, and all
those who rejoice with the world in the unpunished
wickedness of the world prove themselves to be partakers
therein. The sleeping of the disciples is a proof of the
weakness and wretchedness of our nature. Wc make
large promises, but we grow lukewarm when tiie time
has come for us to redeem them.

474 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

THE PLACE WHERE THE LORD WENT TO MEET THOSE
WHO WISHED TO TAKE HIM, AND WAS TAKEN
PRISONER.

We went further on, and came to the garden in which
the Lord Jesus came to meet those who wished to take
Him, bowed thrice, at last voluntarily delivered Himself
up into their hands, and suffered Judas to kiss Him. This
place is surrounded by a dry stone wall, and is of peculiar
sanctity. It stands on the slope of the mount : not that
the place slopes much, but there is a wide field there
which is called the ' flower garden.' This place is visited
by both Eastern and Western Christians alike, with most
zealous devotion ; but the Saracens, out of jealousy of us,
generally befoul the place with dung, and bedaub with
filth the stones which the pilgrims are wont to kiss. So
on this day, when we came to this place, we found it
freshly defiled in a shameful fashion. Herein we were not
so angry with the Saracens as we were with our own
selves, knowing on the other hand that it was in conse-
quence of our "sins that God suffered this to be done, and
that He powerfully stirs up the Saracens to do these things,
to the end that the holy places may be defiled before the
eyes of pilgrim knights and nobles, who may thereby be
roused up to deliver the Holy Land, to avenge the malice
which prompts such great insults, and to kindle their zeal
for the places wherein our redemption [146 rt] was wrought.
That God powerfully stirs up the Saracens to act thus is
proved by the fact that this place is far from the haunts
of nicn, and that this collected filth must be carried in a
pitcher from the city, or from the lower parts of the
Mount of Olives, where also there are houses, and the
places which we adore carefully bedaubed, which beastly
action no one would commit were he not strongly in-

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 475

fluenced by something more than mere human will. How-
ever, this good is made manifest even by this filthy act,
that they reckon that we are much interested in these
places, and therefore are strong Christians, and when they
see that in spite of their defilements we reverence and kiss
the holy places, albeit they are not edified, yet they are
confounded thereby. So we went to this place, wiped
away the filth with our garments, and being moved by a
feeling of pity to greater devotion and respect, kneeled
down in this filth out of worship for the holy places, and
received indulgences (-f-). Even so one who saw the host
lying in the mud would straightway fall into the mud
himself, and would not regard his own defilement, provided
that he could save the sacrament from insult.

THE PLACE WHERE PETER CUT OFF THE EAR OF THE

WICKED MALCHUS.

From thence we went on a little further down along the
wall of that garden. Here a stone marks the place where
St. Peter stood, and seeing a serving man named Malchus
strike the Lord a violent cuff in the face, blazed up with
zeal, and aimed a blow with his sword at Malchus, who
was coming towards him, meaning to split his head in
twain ; but, as he avoided the stroke, Peter cut off his ear.
Presently the Lord reproved him, forbade him to fight
with the sword, and having had the wounded man led up
to Him, healed him in the presence of them all. We
kissed this place, and received indulgences (-[-).

THE FARM OF GETHSEMANE INTO WHICH JESUS CAME.

We now went down the hill nearer to the brook, and
came to the place called Gethsemane, where eight of the
disciples remained asleep, while the Lord went on with
three to the place where He prayed. Here we said the

476 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

appointed prayers, and received (-f-) indulgences. On this
spot, in the time of Christ, there was a farm and homestead
belonging to the Levites, wherein cattle intended for
sacrifice in the temple were kept. After the triumph of
Christ the Christians built here a great church, and a
monastery for many monks. All these buildings have
now been levelled with the ground, but some slight traces
of the walls may still be seen.

THE ROCK WHICH SHOWS THE MARKS OF THE TERROR

OF THE LORD JESUS.

These four places aforementioned are situated within a
small compass, near to one another, and in the same piece
of ground. In this piece of ground we were also taken to
a wide rock which rises out of the earth, and forms as it
were a wide wall, [d] not very high, and not quite upright,
but slanting. At the foot of this wall of rock is a piece of
flat ground whereon the Lord Jesus was standing when the
Jews ran up to catch Him and take Kim prisoner. The
mob could not quite surround Him, because the rock
stood on the east side of Him ; and when they were about
to make a rush upon Him, He was afraid, and, turning
Himself towards the wall of rock, in His wish to escape
from their eager attack, He stretched out His arms and
fell upon the wall of rock, not in order to seek any means
of flight, but that He might yield Himself up to brutal
violence. As He fell thus against the wall, the rock
yielded to His most sacred body, and made itself soft,
even as though the wall had been formed of yielding wax,
and received into itself the print of His body with all its
limbs in the very fashion in which He fell against it. These
marks are imprinted in the rock so as to show com-
pletely the form of the hands and arms, of the head and
hat, of the breast and clothes. It is impossible to suspect

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 477

that these marks have been cut artificially by any tools,
but at the instant when the Lord, troubled in mind, ran
against that wall, it received an impression beyond any-
thing that art or industry could make, even as though
nature had bestowed that form upon the rock from the
beginning. This rock, moreover, is so hard that it appears
incapable of being hewn, and no part of it can be broken
off by iron tools. So we bowed ourselves down round
about this rocky wall, and, after we had said our prayers,
rose up, and one after another went up to the place and
laid cur bodies, as far as we could, in the holy imprint,
putting our arms, hands, face, and breast into the hollow,
and measuring it by our own figures. God is my witness
that I saw this which I have written during my first
pilgrimage, and that I laid myself in these marks, which,
however, point to a much taller man than I am. It is
mentioned by Brother Burcardus, of the Dominican Order,
who spent a long time in the Holy Land two hundred
years ago, and has clearly and distinctly described the
entire Holy Land, and who saw this figure marked on the
rock whereof I am now speaking, and has described the
same. But now, I cannot tell what I am to say, and I
blush, and marvel, and am astounded, nor can I conceive
what has become of that rock ; for during this my second
pilgrimage, we were conducted to all the aforementioned
places, and we neither saw that stone, nor heard any
mention of it, and so my lords the knights went home with
the other pilgrims, and never heard of that stone. After
they were gone, when one could make a quieter visit to
the holy places, I several times went alone to the Mount
of Olives, and searched most diligently for that stone in
the place of Gethsemane, up and down, near and far, but I
could by no means find it. One day I took with mc tlic
Lord Henry of Schomberg, Knight, an active man, and

478 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

quite willing to try any experiments whatever, because I
was very eager to see that imprint. We both of us sought
it up and down, but were not able to find any trace of it.
Other knights also, at my instigation, wandered about the
hill searching for it, [147 a] but laboured in vain. I even
took with me two young brethren of Mount Sion, who
earnestly searched for it with me, but we accomplished
nothing ; indeed, they declared that they had never heard
of it before. I also went to the Father Guardian, Father
Paul Gringlinger, Father Peregrine Polanus, and Brother
John, of Prussia, men of age and experience, and ancient
friars, devout clerical and lay brethren, but no one of them
could tell me anything, and I seemed to them to be raving
until I showed them the description of Brother Burckhard,
which I had with me, and the book of my own former
wanderings. I endured much toil in rambling over the
mount seeking for it, for I am quite sure that it is not
possible for that stone to have been removed from its
place, save by a miracle. No new buildings have been
made there, and only two years had passed since I saw
it first, and to this day I am disturbed at having lost
that holy place. If I knew where Brother Anthony, of
Flanders, of the Minorite Order, who at that time was the
guide to the holy places, is now dwelling, I would go to
him, if I could obtain leave, even if he were in England.
For although the Evangelists say nought of this stone, and
the Canonical Scriptures make no mention of it, yet I
should have been pleased to see it, even as we saw and
adored many other places, whereof no distinct mention is
made by the Evangelists. Neglect, the mother of oblivion,
hath taken away this holy place from us ; but it cannot
take away from me the sight which I have had of that
place, or prevent its appearance remaining fresh in my
mind. The Venerable Bede describes a like miracle to

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 479

have taken place at Nazareth, near the place where the
Lord was to be cast down, whereof we read in the fourth
chapter of St. Luke. He says that when the Lord had
escaped out of the hands of the Jews, and was coming
down from the top of the mountain, He wished to take
refuge beneath a rock, and suddenly at the touch of Plis
robes the rock shrank away, and, like melted wax, made a
hollow wherein it could receive the Lord's body, where all
the shapes and folds of His garments and the prints of
His feet may be seen in the rock at this day, according to
the testimony of those who have seen it. So De Lyra in his
comment on the text, ' But Jesus hid Himself, and went
out of the temple, going through the midst of them,' John
viii. 59.^ Similar miracles may be read of as performed by
many saints, to whom, by Divine power, rocks have given
way, or become soft, as in the case of St. Barbara.

THE PLACE WHERE JESUS SAW THE CITY, AND WEPT

OVER IT.

We departed from the place where the Lord was taken
prisoner, and made for the top of the mount, climbing up
a steep and stony road which leads to Bethany ; for this is
the road by which men coming out of Jerusalem by St.
Stephen's Gate go to Bethany : but there is another road
leading to Bethany from Mount Sion, which itself is
divided into an upper and a lower road, as will appear in
its place. We went up the road down which the Lord
rode upon the ass on Palm Sunday. On the way up we
came to a place in the roadway, where a wide rock which
reaches all the way across the road renders the path
terrifying to animals who pass over it, because the rock is
as smooth as though it had been polished, and beasts walk
over it with fear, dreading lest they should fall, especially

\ The reference in the text is wrongly quoted as ' John iv.'

48o THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

when they are going down hill. At this place the Lord
halted with the ass, and casting His eyes upon the city,
beheld it, and wept over it, and with much sorrow bewailed
its present peace, and foretold its future troubles, as we
read in Luke xix. So here we bowed ourselves to the
earth, prayed, and received plenary indulgences ("fi").
We stood for a long while in this place of Christ's tears,
and gazed upon the holy city, for from this place one can
get a very clear prospect of Jerusalem, the Temple, and
Mount Sion, the sight whereof is powerful to move the
souls of the pious to tears, and it is marked as the place
where we read that the Lord wept. Jerusalem, even in its
wretched state at the present day, presents a sweet and
delightful spectacle from this spot.

THE PLACE WHERE HER DEATH WAS FORETOLD TO THE
BLESSED VIRGIN BY AN ANGEL.

From hence we went on up hill, up the Mount of
Olives, and when we had gotten up a good way we turned
aside out of the high road to the left hand, and went up
through a close full of olive-trees to the uppermost ridge
of the mount, which trends long ways from north to south.
Upon the ridge itself we turned towards the north, and
going along the top came to a stone, which we perceived
to be a place of exceeding great holiness ; for on account of
the frequent visits paid them by Christians, all the holy
places have well-beaten paths of their own leading up to
them, and are marked with stones, which stones, through
much kissing, are as it were dirty, through being touched
by the mouths of pilgrims, from whose lips a kind of fatness
remains upon the stones which they kiss. Now one day
after the blessed Virgin had visited the holy places, she
rested here, and the angel Gabriel came to her, and for the
second time greeted her with ' Hail/ announcing to her her

BROTHER FELIX FADRI. 481

immediate death and translation from this world to the
Father. •Come,' said he, 'glorious lady, to Him who
was born of thee, and receive again the pledge of thy
womb, the recompense of thy nurture, the repayment for
thy milk and food, the wages of thy toil, the reward of thy
sufferings : thou shalt be the glory of the saints, the ark of
those appointed unto salvation, a bridge^ for those tossing
in the waves, a staff whereon the weakly may lean, a ladder
for those who would climb up to heaven, a propitiation for
sinners, and the helper of all them that call upon thee.'
Saying thus, the angel handed to the Virgin a branch of a
most lovely palm, sent from Paradise, as a token of her
complete victory over the enemy of the human race, and
over the pains and terrors of death, and bade this branch
of palm be borne before her bier. Moreover, he bestowed
upon her miraculously brilliant funeral clothes, wherein
she was to die, to be buried, and to ascend into heaven.
Having done this, he ascended into heaven. In this place
we said the appointed prayers, kissed the earth, and re-
ceived indulgences.

THE MOUI^T OF GALILEE, WHICH IS A PART OF THE
MOUNT OF OLIVES, WHEREON THE LORD APPEARED
TO HIS DISCIPLES AFTER HIS RESURRECTION.

Next, leaving the place of the presentation of the palm,
we went onward along the ridge of the mount towards the
north, and at the corner of the Mount of Olives, where it
ceases to extend northwards, we came to the brow of the
mount, where we found many heaps of stones, and a place
of prayer. It is said that in the time of Christ there was
a cottage here, named Galilee, in which the Lord promised
at the time of His passion that He would appear to His

^ The text reads fo/is, which seems to make no sense ; I have
ventured to conjecture /i^/zj. — A. S.

31

482 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

disciples on the day of His resurrection, for in the twenty-
^sixth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel he saith, ' After I
am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.' Some
say that when the Lord promised that He would show
Himself to His disciples in Galilee after His resurrection,
He sometimes meant this village of Galilee, and sometimes
the province called Galilee, because He appeared in both
places. This village of Galilee is mentioned in Matt, xxvi.,
and in the twenty-eighth chapter of the same Gospel [148 d\
the angel bade the women tell the disciples to go into
Galilee, where they would see Him. The Church also
sings in the words of Christ, * In die resurrectionis vtede,
pi'aecedavi vos in Galilaeaml etc. Now we know that it
was not until many days had passed since the Lord's
resurrection that the disciples went down into Galilee, and
not on the day of the resurrection. The Evangelist
St. Matthew speaks of the province of Galilee in his
twenty-eighth chapter, where he says that the eleven
disciples went away into Galilee (the province), where he
appeared to them both on a mountain, and by the sea of
Tiberias. If, then, one understands the Scripture as apply-
ing to the two Galilees, there is no difficulty; but if of the
province of Galilee alone, it contains great difficulty. More-
over, the commentators and expositors, and Augustine in
his harmony of the evangelists, have had much ado to
explain the texts which speak of appearances promised to
be made in Galilee, because they understand the province
alone, and not the village to be spoken of. I have found
no ancient doctor of divinity who understands these texts
otherwise than as alluding to the province of Galilee,
because the appearance which took place there was a
public one, and there were on the mountain, to wit.
Mount Tabor, more than fifty brethren, as we are told
in I Cor. xv. : wherefore men speak of the appearance

BROTHER FELIX FABRL 483

which took place there, in the province of Galilee,
beyond all others. It is said that Euscbius, in his
' Church History,' speaks of the village of Galilee,
though I do not remember to have read it. Ludolphus
also, in his * Life of Christ,' understands that some
appe? ranees took place in the village of Galilee, which
is in Judaea, and others in the province of Galilee. So
we worshipped in that place where He is said to have
appeared to the eleven, and received indulgences (i~f), for
the greatest indulgences are connected with this spot,
because all those indulgences connected with these holy
places which the Saracens will not allow pilgrims to visit
are collected together at this spot. For there are many ex-
ceeding holy places in Jerusalem at which plenary indulg-
ence is to be obtained, to which we are not admitted, such
as the Temple of the Lord, Solomon's Porch, the Golden
Gate, the Judgment Hall of Pilate, the House of Herod,
and the House of St. Anne, which is the birthplace of the
Blessed Virgin. The indulgences granted at these places
we obtained at this spot So when we had obtained
indulgences, we climbed up over the heaps of stones, and
gazed far and wide over the land. Towards the east,
beyond the Jordan and the Dead Sea, we saw the moun-
tains of Arabia, the lands of Aloab and Ammon, the
mountains of Galaath, and so forth. Towards the north
we saw the mountains of the district of Galilee, the moun-
tains of Gilboa and Lebanon. Towards the west we had
over against us the Holy City, and beyond it we saw the
Mount Shiloh, and Mount Ephraim, and the land of the
Philistines, almost as far as the Great Sea. Southwards
we saw the hills of Bethulia near Bethlehem, and the
mountains of Hebron, and Judaea and Idumaea. After
this we betook ourselves to examining the place itself. It
is, as I have already told you, the end of the Mount of

31—2

484 THE BOOK OF THE WAXDERIXGS OF

Olives, and is a place suitable for a castle, and indeed
there seem to have been some buildings there once ; more-
over, upon the top of it there is a cistern, and the whole
place is delightful. The histories of the kings of the East
say that when the three kings had come near to Jerusalem,
darkness covered the earth and the people of this region,
wherefore they were not able to enter the citj'. King
Baltazar with his host passed the night on this mount,
while King [d] Melchior lay on Mount Calvary', as I have told
you on page 117 a, and King Caspar lay on Mount GihoD,
and at daybreak they all entered Jerusalem together.

THE PLACE OF OUR LORD'S ASCENSION, THE CHURCH
BUILT THERE, AND THE FOOTPRINTS OF JESUS OUR
SA\TOUR.

After having rested ourselves on the Mount of Galilee,
we returned along the road on the top of the ridge of the
Mount of Olives, and walked southwards on that high
ground towards a great half-ruined church- When we
came to it, we went up some stone steps into the vaulted
porch, which stands before the door of the church. Before
the church-door a Saracen had placed himself with a club,
and would suffer no one to enter unless he gave him a
madinus, tv.-entj--five of which make a ducat. On the
payment of a madinus he let us enter. Now in the midst
of this church there stands a great chapel — fair, round, and
vaulted, wherein is the exceeding holy place of the foot-
prints of the Lord Jesus Christ, which He left stamped
into the rock when He ascended from that place into
heaven. We stood before this chapel, and with loud and
cheerful voices chanted the hymns and prayers appointed
in the processional for the place of the Lord's Ascension ;
and entering in, as many of us as could go in at one
time, we fell down upon our faces, kissed the most holy

BROTHER FELIX FADRI. 485

footprints of our Saviour, and received plenary indul-
gences (ft)-

After this we betook ourselves to viewing the place. It
stands upon a high peak of the Mount of Olives, at the
southern end thereof, even as Galilee aforementioned is at
the northern end of the mountain, and the place of the
annunciation of the death of the Virgin Mary is below
the ridge, half way between Galilee and the place of the
Ascension. In this holy place there stands a great round
church, beautifully built in such sort that on the top it is
not covered by a vault, but the vaulted roof has a wide
opening purposely made in it, beneath which opening
stands the chapel of the Lord's Ascension, even as doth
the chapel of the Lord's Sepulchre. Historians tell us
that when first the faithful were building a church on the
place of the Lord's Ascension, and intended to cover it
with a vault, they could by no means fit together the
stones of the vaults, and such stones as they set up
straightway fell down again. When the believers saw this,
they understood that it was God's will that the place of
the Lord's Ascension from earth to heaven ought not to be
blocked up by walls or vaults, but ought to remain free,
clear, and open. So as they built they brought the vault
round, resting upon the round wall, but they did not
complete it ; but, as I said before, they left a great open-
ing, whose edge they have cased all round with cut and
polished stones. When the builders were about to pave
the church with marble slabs, and wished to cover the
place where Christ's feet stood when He ascended, the
stones when laid upon that place straightway flew back
into the faces of the builders, and this came to pass [149 «]
as often as they attempted to cover the place. Once there
was adjoining this church a great monastery of black
(Benedictine) monks under a mitred abbot, and in very

486 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

early times there dwelt in this place holy and devout men
at whose instance and entreaty Jerome wrote the ' Lives of
the Fathers/ as may be read in the preface to that book.
In those golden times so many lamps burned in this
church, kept alight therein by the faithful, that they
lighted up the whole Mount of Olives, and their radiance
shone to the further side of the valley of Jehoshaphat, and
illumined the hither gate of the city of Jerusalem. Opposite
to this church was and still is the Temple of Solomon, in
which likewise so many lights and lamps used to burn that
they lighted up the hither side of the Mount of Olives.
By the radiance of the lights which shone from those two
churches the whole valley of Jehoshaphat was lighted up,
the mount of the temple was lighted by the church on the
Mount of Olives, and the Mount of Olives by the church
on the mount of the temple. Furthermore this church was
of old graced by the following miracle, which I have
learned from the book of the pilgrimage of a holy man
who was present and beheld it. It was the custom of the
early Christians that on the day of the Lord's Ascension,
after the services of mass, all the people of Jerusalem came
out to the Mount of Olives, and remained there instant in
prayer awaiting the hour of noon, at which the Lord Jesus
was taken up into heaven. When this hour came, suddenly
an exceeding violent blast of wind rushed down from
heaven, and poured its whole force through the opening
in the roof of the church, so that the whole mountain
quivered at the shock, and all who were present fell upon
the earth, until that delightful yet terrible storm had
passed away. This used to take place ever}^ year on
Ascension Day. But when the Holy Land was taken by
the Saracens they desecrated this holy church, and made a
mosque of it. But as in spite of all prohibitions Christian
pilgrims would visit this church, and were wont to enter it

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 487

at night by stealth that they might kiss the footprints of
the Saviour, therefore the Saracens would not either let uS
have it or keep it themselves, but pulled down the east
end of it, took away from the walls and from the pavement
all the casing of marble slabs, and removed the precious
columns. Howbeit they left untouched the chapel of the
place of Christ's footprints, and the rock which contains
them, because they also respect the holy footprints. On
this rock are to be seen the prints of both the feet of the
Lord Jesus, though the print of the right foot is the plainer
of the two. These prints arc kissed by Christians and
Saracens alike. Now one of the pilgrims, moved by a
pleasant spirit of piety, having with him a flask of exceed-
ing sweet wine, poured some of it into the hollow formed
by the footprints, and the rest licked it out as they kissed
them, and as fast as the place was emptied he poured more
in. On the north side of this church there is a hole in
the wall so high up that a tall man can only just reach it
wich his uplifted arm. Pilgrims raise themselves up to this
hole and put their hands upon it, declaring that there in
the wall is some of that very stone whereon Christ stood
when He ascended into heaven ; but whence they get this
idea I know not. At the east end there used to be a great
stone, whereon the Lord sat when He [d] reproved them
for their want of faith and hardness of heart, as we read
in the last chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel ; but now the
4:ast end is almost destroyed, and within it there are
dwelling-places for husbandmen, and byres for goats,
because a farmhouse adjoins the church on the east side,
which house is called in their language. . . .

There is, however, a wall drawn across the middle of the
church, which cuts off the east end, where these rustics live,
from the western part, wherein is the chapel of the Lord's
Ascension. This church stands, as I have told you,

488 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

opposite to the Lord's temple, but much higher than the
temple, though that likewise stands upon a mountain, and
it can be seen a great way off, as is told on page 90 d. It
is directly to the eastward of the temple of the Lord, which
they call Solomon's Temple, so that at the equinoxes the
rising sun appears as it were to rise out of this church and
to go up from it, as I have often watched it doing. When
I saw this I no longer wondered that the Church sings
upon the day of the Lord's Ascension, ' Sing unto the
Lord, who ascendeth above the heaven of heavens in the
east.' Of this I shall speak at greater length on page 171 d.
From the city of Jerusalem to the place of the Ascension is
three good Italian miles, by the way whereby we went up
thither.

THE PRAISE OF THE PLACE OF THE LORD'S ASCENSION,
WHEREIN WILL ALSO BE GIVEN A DESCRIPTION
THEREOF, AND LIKEWISE OF THE VALLEY OF JE-
HOSHAPHAT, OF THE BROOK CEDRON, OF THE
VALLEY OF TOPH AND OF HINNON, ALL OF WHICH
LIE ABOUT THE FOOT OF THE MOUNT OF OLIVES.

The place of the Lord's Ascension is one of especial
sanctity among all the holy places of the Holy Land, and
thither pilgrims are impelled with wondrous zeal, foras-
much as it is ennobled by seven peculiar virtues; for
it is :

(I.) Exceeding venerable, because in ancient times there
was here a famous high place, up to which David went to
pr?y, as we are told in the sixteenth chapter of the second
Book of Kings, and on page 171 of this work, and because
thereon the disciples were made lords of all lands, since
they were bidden, ' Go into all the world, and preach the
Gospel to every creature ' (Mark xvi.).

(II.) It is a place which should be loved, because here

BROTHER FELIX FABRL 489

He ascended into heaven, and showed us the path to
the heavenly kingdom.

(III.) The place is wonderful, because of the most cruel
destruction of Antichrist ; for theologians, as, for instance,
Richardus, towards the end of his fourth book, tell us that
in this place Antichrist will be slain by the Lord Jesus.
For, according to the vision in Daniel xi., Antichrist will
come up to the top of the Mount of Olives, which the
prophet calls a glorious and holy mountain ; he will set up
his throne in the place from whence Christ ascended, and
will fancy that he, too, will ascend into heaven. Him the
Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of His mouth, giving
a fearful cry, at which sound Michael shall rise up against
Antichrist, whom he will strike with a thunderbolt and
sink to the bottom of the great pit.

(IV,) This place is terrible, because of the scat and
throne of the Last Judgment ; for in this place the Lord
Jesus will set up His judgment [150^] seat, wherefore the
angels in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles said,
' Even as ye have seen Him ascending into heaven, so
shall He come with great power to judge the quick and
the dead,'

(V.) This place is dreadful, because of the casting down
•of sinners into hell ; for those sinners who are damned
shall stand in the valley of Jehoshaphat, which valley, as I
have said above, page 142 a, joins the accursed valley of
Ennon or Gehennon, which reaches from thence through
horrible desert tracts to the Sea of Devils, which is other-
Avise called the Dead Sea. As soon as those dreadful
words of the Judge shall be heard, ' Depart from Me, ye
cursed, into everlasting fire' (Matt, xxv.), there will break
Ibrth from the northern side of this valley a stream of fire,
Tunning exceeding swiftly, which will enfold all the wicked,
and will roll them violently along from the valley of

490 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

Jehoshaphat into the dreadful valley of Toph, Tophet, and
Hennon. On this subject consult the notable passage in
Isaiah xxx. From thence they will be brought by the
stream through that great valley into the Dead Sea, which
is also called the Sea of Devils, into whose jaws that fiery
river will be received, and soon, as it pours in, the whole
sea will be set on fire by it, and beneath the sea hell will
open its mouth, boundless in width, and will swallow up
the whole. In fact and truth the position of the place is
as follows : the Mount of Olives is a long way towards the
east ; it reaches from the north towards the south, and to
it is joined on the same side the Mount of Offence, which
likewise extends a long way. On the west side is the
mount of the holy city, whereunto the Mount Sion adjoins,
behind which lies the Mount Gihon over against the Mount
of Olives and the Mount of Oft'ence, and the space midway
between them is called the valley of Jehoshaphat, at the
bottom of which is the brook Cedron. The valley of
Jehoshaphat and the brook Cedron start from the place of
the stoning of Stephen, and end at the foot of Mount Sion,
in the place where the waters of Siloam join the brook, and
there it is called the valley of Siloam, which reaches as far
as the well of Rogel. From this place begins the valley
which is called ' the shady valley '; beyond this it is called
the valley of Hennon, Toph, or Tophet, from whence the
name of Gehenna has been taken ; and this name it retains
all the way down its course, among hideous mountains and
past steep cliffs, down to the accursed stinking, deceitful
Dead Sea, beneath which, it is said, opens the yawning
mouth of the pit of hell. So then, after the wicked have
been judged, the brook Cedron will be filled to overflowing
with a river of fire breaking forth from its north side,,
whence it will begin to break forth, because ' out of the
north an evil shall break forth ' (Jerem. i. 14) ; it will

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 491

envelop them and lead them along the aforesaid valleys,
which all communicate one with another, without any
mountains to block them up, down to the Dead Sea [li\.
So the valley of Jchoshaphat will be the place of those
who are to be damned, who will stand in the brook Cedron,
as unclean ; for this place was ever a sink of all unclean-
ness, or rather a sewer down which uncleannesses ran
into the sink, that is, into the Dead Sea. We read in
I Kings XV., that Asa the king destroyed the Priapus, the
exceeding filthy idol of his mother, and burned it in
the brook Cedron, with all the uncleanness of the idols.
Likewise in 2 Chron. xxix. 16, 'And the priests went
into the inner part of the house of the Lord, to cleanse
it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found
in the temple of the Lord . . . and carried it abroad
into the brook Cedron.' Moreover, in 2 Chron. xxx.,
we are told that the children of Israel assembled in Jeru-
salem and broke the altars, destroyed everything whereon
incense was burned to idols, and threw them into the
brook Cedron. Moreover, they broke the idols and altars
into pieces, and cast the powder into the brook Cedron.
Besides this, all the other filth from the city used to drain
down into the brook Cedron, and when the brook was in
flood it was all carried down with a rush into the Dead
Sea.

Another reason why the valley is unclean and accursed
is that devils used to be worshipped in it, and divination
was practised in it, as we read in 2 Chron. xxviii.,
of King Ahaz, who burned incense in the valley of
Hinnon, and purified his children in fire there, after
the fashion of the Gentiles. This valley of Hennon
is the same as the valley of Jchoshaphat, and this same
valley is likewise called Cela, while the brook Cedron is
called Chrinarus. Now, as is commonly believed anJ

492 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

taught, all kindreds of the earth will be assembled together
in this valley. Wherefore men are wont to inquire of
those who have been in the Holy Land, how large that
valley is, whether it be so wide that therein all men can
stand on the day of judgment. Simple folk care for
nothing else, but are anxious about the size of the valley
of Jehoshaphat ; and sometimes it has happened, and does
still happen, that pilgrims pile up stones for themselves in
that Valley, wishing before the day of judgment to secure
a place for themselves whereon they may sit on the day of
judgment. And sometimes simple folk give money to
pilgrims about to set out to Jerusalem, to mark a place for
them with a stone in the valley of Jehoshaphat, to which
place they believe that they will come on the day of
judgment. When such men question one about the size
of the valley, in good sooth one is forced to answer that
the valley is of no great size, and that in its present form
it would hardly be able to take in one nation, for all the
Swabians who are now actually alive could barely find
standing room in it, without mentioning those who have
been, or who will hereafter be. But on the day of judg-
ment the shape of that valley will be different, as will be
that of the whole earth also ; for before the judgment the
world will burn and be freed from all uncleanness, nay,
from all unevenness also, for the strait places shall be
made wide, and the crooked and rough into flat highways.
That this valley will be enlarged is evident from Zach. xiv.,
where we are told that the Mount of Olives shall be riven
from the east to the west, and one part of the mount
shall be upon the south side, and the other on the north
side [151 a], and this cleft in the mountain shall be as
deep as a continuation of the valley of Celacin from the
West.

The Mount of Olives will have another cleft in it, from

BROTHER FELIX FABRL 493

the north to the south, so that the two clefts will intersect
one another in the form of a cross, and the Mount of
Olives will be divided crosswise, and those who are to be
judged will stand in the valleys formed by this cross.
When this division is made, let no one be anxious about
the room, which would be ample even if the world remained
in its present form ; for the cleft in the Mount of Olives
towards the east hath beyond it the exceeding wide plain
country of Jericho, and the vast wildernesses of Jordan,
which could contain all the people in the world.

One ought likewise to reply to them, and indeed it is a
better answer, that those who have spent their lives well,
righteously, and virtuously here on earth will have alto-
gether unmolested places to stand in prepared for them by
their angels. But the vicious and wicked will have very
cramped and wretched places, and will stand in great
misery, so that the whole world shall seem to them too
small, and they shall say to the mountains, ' Fall upon
us,' and to the hills * cover us.' Wherefore thou need'st
not secure thy place beforehand, seeing that if thou art a
good man, thy angel will make ready an excellent place for
thee, and will not suffer thee to be anywhere save in a place
of honour. If thou art wicked, and hast set up a stone
for thyself, that stone shall cry out against thee, neither
will the evildoer have any place wherein to rest ; for the
just will miraculously and gloriously stand in the air, but
the unjust will stand on the earth in the fire, in disgrace
and misery, shrieking and howling. For an account ot
this valley and its names see page 233 a.

Lo, from what hath been said it is plain how dreadful
this place must be to sinners.

(VI.) This place is desirable because of the consolation
of the elect ; for from this mount the Lord will cast down
death, and will destroy the face of the covering cast over

494 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations, and
in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all
people a feast of fat things full of marrow, etc. (Isaiah xxv.).
For all the things which are spoken of in that chapter
properly belong to the Mount of Olives, albeit some
explain them as belonging to the Mount Sion. Let any-
one who pleases read that chapter and the next one to it,
and he will see many proofs of what has been said above.
This place is desirable because from thence after the
judgment is over the Lord will ascend into heaven
together with all the elect who have been since the begin-
ning of the world.

(VII.) This place is to be taken as a lesson, because of
the examples of sublime devotion which have come to pass
thereon. Here stood the most blessed Virgin Mary, thrilled
with unspeakable joy as she beheld the Ascension of her
Son. Here also stood the apostles and more than five
hundred of the brethren with upturned faces, gazing
earnestly into the clouds, and with devout contemplation
longing to follow the Lord. Angels likewise were present,
and said to them, ' Ye men of Galilee, why stand you
looking up. . . ?' Wherefore we read in the last chapter
of St. Luke's Gospel that they returned to Jerusalem with
great joy. It is also told, and is a pious tradition, that
after her Son's Ascension the Virgin Mary every day visited
this holy place, gave herself up to especially devout medi-
tation, and with all the strength of her mind raised herself
up to the contemplation of heavenly things. It is also
told of a certain pilgrim [i?] knight, that after he had visited
all the holy places wherein Christ wrought out our salva-
tion, at last he climbed up to this place, and, falling down
upon the earth in prayer, cried out, ' Lo, Lord Jesus, I
have sought Thee as carefully and as devoutly as I could
throughout the earth ; I know not where to seek for Thee

BROTHER FELIX FADRI. 495

after this place, for here Thou didst leave the world, and
returnedst to the Father. I pray Thee, Lord, bid me come
unto Thee, that I may secic Thee and find Thee at the
right hand of the Father.' When he had finished this
prayer he with a cheerful countenance breathed his last
in the siglit of all his fellow pilgrims, and by his death
found in heaven Him whom he had sought in his pilgrimage
through the holy places.

OF THE MOUNT OF OLIVES, ITS NAMES, AND ITS HOLI-
NESS.
From what hath been aforesaid somewhat of the shape
of the Mount of Olives will be understood ; but I have
thought well to add what follows, that it may be more
clearly known. In the eleventh chapter of the Book of
Daniel it is called ' the glorious holy mountain,' and more-
over it is commonly called the Mount of Olives. Yet is
its proper name the Mount of Lights, for this mount is
first lighted by the sun. At dawn it is straightway lighted
by the sun's rays before the other mountains, and from it
the rays are passed on to the holy city and the temple ;
for Solomon's Temple was so built that its door looked
towards the east, and the altar with the ark of the covenant
stood in the western part of the temple over against the
door ; and when the sun rose, and passed over the top of
the Mount of Olives, the first rays which it sent forth from
the brow of that mount towards the city entered into the
door of the outer tabernacle, through the door of the inner
tabernacle, and through the door of the inner tabernacle
they made their way even to the ark of the covenant,
which was lighted up by the first stroke of the sun's rays.
Now the Church of the Lord's Ascension always receives
the first rays, as has been told above, page 149 [d], and it
passes them on to the temple of the Lord ; and if it had

496 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

two doors over against one another, one in the east wall
and the other in the west wall, then at the equinoxes the
rising sun would have sent its rays through those doors,
even to the doors of the temple of the Lord, to the ark of
the covenant, and to the mercy-seat, and to the cherubim.
Therefore it was called the Mount of Light.

Secondly, it was called so because at nights it was
lighted up on the western side by the lights in the temple
of the Lord ; for there were so many lamps burning in the
temple of Solomon that they lit up the mountain opposite
to them, as has been told above, page 149 a. Even at the
present day the light from the temple is shed upon this
mount ; for it is said that the Saracens have seven hundred
lamps always burning therein, and eight hundred in the
church by the side of the temple. I was once on the
Mount of Olives by night, and saw through the windows
of the temple as bright a fire therein as though it were a
lantern filled with clear flame.

Thirdly, it is called the Mount of Lights because on its
top, in the place where the Lord ascended, the priests of
the old law were wont every year to make a great fire, and
they used to bring out a red heifer, with all the people of
Israel following them, and burned it there as a burnt-
sacrifice to the Lord. They collected the ashes of the
heifer, and made the water of purification by mixing these
ashes with it, by sprinkling with which they used to purify
the people from many sins against the law, and this was
done with great solemnity, as we read in Numbers xix. ; and
they did it on this mountain, as Jerome tells us in the
* Life and Death of St. Paula.' Never throughout the
whole year did the people of Israel meet together at a fire
without the walls, save at the ceremony of the burnt
sacrifice of the red heifer ; wherefore they named the
mount after that fire and light, or else from the ashes and

BROTHER FELIX FADRI. 497

water of purification which was kept there. Now, besides
the mystery of Christ and His passion there are two
reasons for the sacrifice of the red heifer. First, it was to
atone for the sin which they had committed in worshipping
the calf in the wilderness, which calf was red, for it was
newly wrought of the finest gold, which is red before it
be filed or polished. The second cause is that the children
of Israel learned this ceremony from the idolaters in Egypt;
wherefore the Lord, having compassion on their frailty, did
not change the ceremony, but its meaning and purpose.
For the Egyptians in very ancient times looked upon their
King Osiris as a god — nay, thought him to be a god. This
man was slain by his brother Typhon, a red-haired, impious,
and wicked man, who cut him into twenty-six pieces and
sent them to his followers in divers places. Howbeit Isis,
the wife of him who was slain, a giantess and a woman of
exceeding might, seized upon her husband's kingdom, col-
lected his members together, and placed them in a golden
chest. She built a temple, instituted priests, and ordained
a service of sacrifices to Osiris, ordering that out of hatred
for the crime of the red-haired Typhon both red-haired
men and beasts should be burned at the tomb of Osiris as
a burnt-offering. Wherefore when the worship of Osiris
became known throughout the countries of the world,
people who wished to sacrifice to him in like manner
would bring either a red-haired man or a red bull or a
red cow to be slaughtered ; whereby it came to pass that
no red-haired man was left alive in the whole land of
Egypt, and in other lands red-haired men were viewed
with hatred by the worshippers both of Osiris and of Isis,
•because of Typhon the fratricide, on account of whose
wickedness all red-haired men were suspected of evil. So
likewise Christians portray the accursed Judas the traitor
in the likeness of Typhon, and sneer at and insult rcd-

32

498 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

haired men, even of the greatest piety. Thus do innocent
red-haired men pay the penalty of crimes which they have
not committed. The myth of Osiris, Isis, and Typhon is
written in the fourth chapter of the first book and in the
fourth chapter of the second book of the ' Ancient History'
of Diodorus Siculus.

[152 a] Fourthly, it is called the Mount of Lights, because
it was lighted by the lamps and lights of the churches
which stood thereon. For there was the church of the
Lord's Ascension, full of lamps, as is told on page 149 « ;
the church in Galilee ; the church of St. Mark ; the chapel
of Pelagia ; the church of Christ in agony ; the church of
the sepulchre of the blessed Virgin ; the church of Christ's
tears ; the church in Gethsemane ; the church in Bethphage ;
the church of St. James ; and many others, in all of which
lamps used to burn, whereby not only the Mount of Olives,
but also the mount of the temple and the holy city over
against it, were lighted up.

Fifthly, it was called the Mount of Lights because oil,
the food of lights, grows there abundantly. Therefore it
is called the Mount of the Olive Grove, or of Olives, which
grow there in great numbers of their own accord without
being planted. The oil which grows thereon is used at
this day to feed the lamps in the temple of the Lord-
Thereon are olive-trees so huge and so ancient that I
believe that some of them have been there from the time
of Christ even to our own days. St. Augustine, in his
commentary upon St. John's Gospel, says that the J\Iount
of Olives is the mount of anointing and of unction, the
mount of fatness and fulness, the mount of purging and
healing. This he says because of the abundance of olive-
trees which grow there, whose fruit is unctuous, earthy,
and delicious, for, as Isidorus says, olive-oil through the
bitterness of its root comes to be food for light, medicine
for wounds, and refreshment for the hungry.

BROTHER FELIX FADRI. 49^

Sixthly, it is called the Mount of Lights because it is
loftier than all the other mountains, and from it a man can
see the country round about far and wide by the light of
his eyes.

Seventhly, it is called the Mount of Lights because it is
delightful to behold, and gladdens the eyes of one who
sees it from the opposite hill. For there are upon it
gardens of olives and fig-trees, pomegranates, and other
fruits. In ancient times cedars and cypresses and vines,
and all that man can want, grew at its foot. So much, then,
about it. This Mount of Olives and valley of Jehoshaphat
are mentioned by St. Bernard in his sermon to the Knights
of the Temple, chapter viii.

OF THE CAVE OF ST, PELAGIA, SINNER AND PENITENT.

When we had done in the church of the Lord's Ascension
all that for which we had gone up thither, we came out of
it, and went down some steps into a road which leads
down a steep place into the valley. After we had gone
down a little way beyond the steps, we came to a dark-
some chapel of St. Pelagia, wherein she wrought her work
of penitence, and wherein she ended her life. Before the
mouth of this grotto there ever stood a Saracen, who
forbade us to enter until we had given him some money,
after getting which he let us in. When we had entered,
we read the appointed prayers, and received indulgences (-|-) ;
moreover, we were greatly edified at the penitence of St.
Pelagia. She was, as we are told in the ' Lives of the
Fathers,' an ambitious and vain woman of the leading
society of Antioch, and was, moreover, wanton and un-
chaste. After many crimes and homicides had been com-
mitted on her account, she was converted, and said, ' I,
Pelagia, am a sea of sin, overflowing with waves of wicked-
ness ; I am a pit of perdition ; lama pitfall and a halter

J- -

500 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

for souls ; deceived myself, I have deceived many others,
but now I shudder at all these things.' See, if you choose,
this story very beautifully set forth in the chronicle of
Antoninus, part i., volume vii., chapter ix., § 6. [d] Thus
confessing her sins, she betook herself to the Church, and
after having been instructed by the Bishop of Antioch,
sold all her possessions, and gave the money to the poor,
not wishing her property to be bestowed upon churches
and priests, but upon the needy alone, holding herself
unworthy that her property should be converted to holy
uses. After having done this and changed her dress, she
secretly departed from Antioch, made her way to the
holy Mount Olivet, and betook herself to this cave, where
she lived a most religious life to the wonderment of the
whole country, while no one knew her to be a woman until,
when she was dead, she had to be washed in the presence
of the holy priests and bishops, who, astonished at what
they saw, buried her in her own cell, where her sepulchre
may be seen even to this day. There is a narrow passage
between the sepulchre and the wall nearest to it, so that
he who would pass through it can only do so with diffi-
culty, and has to drag himself through the stonework.
There is a common fable that no one who is living in
mortal sin can pass through this place. This I consider to
be a fable, for all of us passed through it ; whether we
were all in a state of grace, God knows.

THE PLACE WHEREIN THE TWELVE ARTICLES OF FAITH
WERE COMPOSED BY THE APOSTLES.

After coming out of the cave of St. Pelagia we went on
down the side of the mount, and passing by the road
which leads to Bethphage and Bethany, we climbed over
a dry stone wall into a garden, and came to the ruins of a
great church, which is called the church of St. Mark the

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 501

Evangelist. In this church there were once indulgences,
as indeed there arc at this day, which indulgences we
obtained by saying prayers (■]-). This church is said to
stand in the place where the holy apostles composed the
creed of our faith. Here they met together by themselves,
that they might be away from the noise of men, and by
the inspiration of God composed the articles of the faith.
After having composed them they passed over to the
Mount Sion, called together the first holy council of the
universal Church, laid before it the Articles and the Creed,
discussed them, and gave them over to the Church to be
published abroad throughout the world, as has been told
on page 106 a. So in this place we professed this same faith
anew and said the Creed.

THE PLACE WHERE THE LORD TAUGHT HIS DISCIPLES
TO SAY THE LORD'S PRAYER.

Leaving the garden which contains the aforesaid church
for the road which leads down the steep hillside, we came
down into the valley, and went down it a little way to the
place where we understood that a church or oratory once
stood, which church was called 'the house of bread.' Here
we said the appointed prayers and received indulgences (-f).
This church is said to have been built on the place of
which we read in the eleventh chapter of St. Luke's Gospel,
that, when Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He
had finished His prayer one of His disciples said to Him,
' Lord, teach us to pray.' There He taught them the
Lord's Prayer, which is most acceptable to God — short,
and exceeding profitable. He had uttered this prayer
before on another mountain in the land of Galilee, in a
long sermon, [153 «] as we read in the fifth chapter of
St. Matthew's Gospel. When the Lord had prayed for a
long time in this place, His disciples wondered how He

S02 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

prayed, and asked to be taught to pray. He gave them
the same form of prayer which He had previously uttered
in His public sermon. This prayer surpasses all other
prayers, because it was set forth by the mouth of the
Saviour Himself, who hath therein condensed all our
human prayers into one wholesome sentence. So here we
said the Lord's Prayer with more than usual devotion, and
frequently kissed the place. I believe that this was called
the church of the Lord's bread, because therein we were
bidden to ask for bread, as well for the body as for the
soul. In this place there is at the present day a deep
cistern, but without water.

THE PLACE WHERE CHRIST PREACHED THE SERMON ON
THE EIGHT BEATITUDES.

We left the House of Bread, and going on further down
the hill, came to a place in which there was a wide road
covered with smooth stone, as though it were paved with
marble.- In this place they say that Christ sat, and re-
peated to His disciples and took up again the sermon on
the eight beatitudes, which He had previously preached in
Galilee on a mount, and also in the plain country, even as
it is clear that He did in the case of the Lord^s Prayer,
albeit this cannot be gathered from the Evangelists. In
the fifth chapter of St. Matthew we read that He preached
upon the eight beatitudes on a mountain, and in the sixth
chapter of St. Luke that He afterwards repeated this same
sermon on a plain at the foot of a mountain in the land of
Galilee. Afterwards, when He came into Judaea, He is
believed to have preached it yet another time in this place.
This is not found in the Gospels, but it is an ancient tradi-
tion of the saints, that that precious sermon was uttered in
this place also ; for a preacher who has a good and profit-
able subject will often preach upon it many times, both in

BROTHER FELIX FADRI. 503

the same place and in divers places. At this place we
bowed ourselves down in prayer, and received the indul-
gences appointed (f).

THE PLACE WHEREIN THE LORD PROPHESIED TO THE
DISCIPLES ABOUT THE LAST JUDGMENT,

Below the aforesaid place wc came to the place spoken
of in the thirteenth chapter of St. Mark, where Jesus sat
with His disciples, and, being questioned by them about
the destruction of the city and of the temple, which they
had before their eyes, told them many things about the
persecutions that should befall them, and of Antichrist, and
the last judgment, and of signs in the sun, and the moon,
and the stars, of which we read in the twenty-first chapter
of St. Luke. In this place we kissed the sacred footprints
and received indulgences (f).

THE PLACE WHERE THE BLESSED VIRGIN USED TO TAKE
BREATH AND REST WHEN MAKING HER PILGRIMAGE.

When we had gone down a little lower from the place
where Christ sat, we came to the place where the blessed
Virgin Mary was wont to sit down and rest during her
daily [If] pilgrimage. We learn from the writings of the
Fathers — to wit, of Jerome in one of his epistles, of
Augustine, of Anselm, of Bernard, and of St. Vincent of
Damascus in his sermon on the Assumption, that after her
son's Ascension the blessed Virgin Mary every day, with
exemplary devotion, visited all the places wherein our
redemption was wrought. Though she was in the spirit,
yet as long as she lived in the flesh she was moved by
fleshly feelings, and therefore was refreshed by visiting
those places, and was daily inflamed with fresh feelings
of love, all the more powerfully the more she was illumi-

504 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

nated within by divine visitations. Let us therefore reckon
this most devout pilgrimage of the glorious Virgin Mary
as an act of practical piety .^ The glorious Virgin, accord-
ing to the common belief, survived her Son's Ascension
fourteen years, which years she passed as a pilgrim, moving
actually in the body from place to place. She vowed to
make three pilgrimages as long as she lived in this world :
the first a yearly, the second a monthly, and the third a
daily one. Firstly, it is believed that every year she went
down from Jerusalem to Nazareth, and there most devoutly
visited the place where she had been greeted by the angel,
calling to mind all the joy which she had felt in con-
ceiving the Son of God, and returning thanks to God for
the immense benefit conferred by Him upon the whole
world through her in that holy place. After she had
accomplished this she returned by the same road by which,
after she had conceived the Son of God, she had hastened
to the mountains of Judaea and greeted Elizabeth, and
humbly waited on her when she was delivered of John, as
is told in the first chapter of St. Luke's Gospel. As she
returned by this way, her sweetest joy of heart was
renewed, more especially when she came to the place
wherein her spirit rejoiced when she chanted that
sweetest of hymns, the Magnificat, whereat the child in
her womb was thrilled with joy, and leaped and re-
joiced. After she had visited this place she returned to
Jerusalem.

Secondly, she is believed to have passed over from Jeru-
salem to Bethlehem once every month, and there to have
entered the grotto from whence she shed abroad that
eternal light upon our world, Jesus Christ our Lord. Who
can describe the joy which she felt in this place ! Instead
of the plenary indulgences for the remission of sins, which

* That is, as contrasted with theoretical or contemplative piety.

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 505

Other sinners carry away from this place, she carried away,
besides an increase of her deserts, a plenary illumination
and consolation of her mind. O, what a sweet and profit-
able exchange !

Thirdly, she was careful every day to visit the holiest
places in Jerusalem and the neighbourhood. In the early
morning, as dawn drew nigh, after having received the
sacrament from St. John on the Lord's Mount of Sion,
she went forth with her maidens, and entered that ^rcat
chamber which had been made ready for the Last Supper,
where she meditated upon the immense boon thsie con-
ferred upon the human race, looked into the deepest
mysteries, and kissed the place where her Son had sat.
From thence she would go to the house of Annas the high
priest, and after praying there entered the hall of Caiaphas,
and mused, not without sorrow, upon the sufferings under-
gone by her Son in that building. Thence she went down
from the Mount Sion out of the city, and came to the rock
of the Cross, which she embraced and sweetly kissed,
pitying that dearest One who was crucified thereon, and
rejoicing nevertheless in His precious devotion to those
whom He redeemed. From thence entering into the
garden of the Lord's [154^] tomb, she would go to the
place where the body of her Son and Lord was anointed
and preserved in spices, where she kneeled and kissed the
stone; and swiftly rising from thence, made her way to the
Lord's tomb, whose cave she entered, and, embracing His
sepulchre, was filled on that spot with unspeakable joy.
Leaving these places, she went down the hill of Calvary
towards the city gate, and on her way, not unmindful of
her Son, how He was led out of the city along that path
burdened with the heavy cross, and in the places where
she had seen her Son either fall beneath the load of the
cross, or be assailed by some especial outrage, she would

5o6 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

kneel down and pray. Thus she would enter the city by
the gate of judgment, go up to Pilate's judgment hall, and
kiss the places where He was scourged and crowned, with
thanksgiving. Coming out from thence, she would go to
the house of Herod, and kiss her Son's footprints there.
From hence she would go up to the temple of the Lorc^
and, after praying there, would leave the temple on the
other side, and come to the Golden Gate, where she re-
flected upon her Son's entrance on Palm Sunday. Passing
out through this, she went down into the valley of Jehosh-
aphat, and there prayed for the whole human race, that
they might be worthy to stand there unconfounded on the
dreadful judgment day ; for she knew that on that day no
prayers, not even her own, would have any weight ; where-
fore she addressed the Judge beforehand on that spot.
After this she crossed the brook, pointed out to her com-
panions the place of her own sepulture, and, entering the
cave, became filled with joy unspeakable, for that she knew
that in this place she would first receive the joy of complete
fruition, that here she would put on the robe of glory both
in the body and in the soul, would be snatched away from
this wicked world, and be exalted above the choirs of
angels. Next, leaving her sepulchre, she would go a little
higher up, and enter the grotto where the Lord Jesus
thrice prayed when in the greatest anguish ; there she
also, mindful of His agony, would bend her knees on the
footprints of her Son, and remain steadfast in prayer longer
and more earnestly than elsewhere. Finally, she would
enter the garden and farm of Gethsemane, and kiss the
places where her Son was taken captive. On leaving this
place she would turn away from the valley and make for
the church of the Mount of Olives ; but at the place where
Jesus looked at the city and wept, she likewise would turn
her face towards the city, and lament its misfortunes with

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 507

piteous sighs of compassion. Climbing up from thence,
she came to Galilee and the cottage, where she reflected
upon the glory of the resurrection of her Son, and the joy
of His disciples. When she had finished her prayer there,
she came walking along the crest of the mount to the
place where on the last day of her pilgrimage the angel
met her, and announced to her that the time of her
departure w-as at hand. From hence she went on, and
came to the place of her Son's Ascension, where she kissed
with the utmost devotion the [d] holy footprints marked
plainly in the rock. Now, because this place is especially
fitted for prayer, she would leave it somewhat soon, that
she might have longer time to spend there afterwards, and
would cheerfully descend the other side of the Mount of
Olives, and go through Bethphage to Bethany, to visit her
acquaintances there, and the places where her Son had
been — the house of INIartha, the grave of Lazarus, the
dwelling of Mary Magdalen, and the house of Simon the
leper. After having visited there, she again sought the
high ground, and climbed upwards, slender and fragile as a
wreath of smoke, being already worn away by her various
penances, and burned within by the flame of pious love ;
thus in cheerful guise she would with unspeakable long-
ing seek the top of the holy hill of Olivet, from whence
she had descended, and would return to the place of the
Lord's Ascension, whither she would go as though herself
about to ascend straightway and meet her Son. When she
was there, she would caress the aforesaid footprints with
many kisses, lifting at one time her eyes, at another her
hands, to heaven, and on that spot she would feel much
joy at the thought that there the greatest honour possible
was bestowed upon her Son and upon herself, when that
flesh which had been born of her was taken up from hence
and exalted above all the heavens. Leaving this place,

5oS THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

she would make her way home, and walk down the mount,
by the place where the apostles had put together the creed
Avhich she herself had taught them, where she would stand
still for a little space and pray for those who professed the
faith. Passing on from thence to the place where the Lord
taught them to say ' Our Father,' she would stop and say
that prayer, and as she went on would give thanks at the
place where the eight beatitudes were preached of. From
thence she would come down to the place where Christ sat
with His disciples, and told them the terrible story of the
last judgment; where she offered a prayer that He might
be merciful in His second advent, and went on till she came
to the dwelling where already at the outset of this pilgrimage
of the most blessed Virgin Mary I have said was her place
of rest and recovery of breath. Now, at the time when the
blessed Virgin Mary was alive there stood there a dwelling,
inhabited by good peasants, who, observing the unfailing
passing-by of the Virgin, invited her to sit and refresh her-
self in the shade, and she frequently would come out of
the road, sit down, and rest her frail maiden limbs. And
albeit she was not wearied or fatigued by labour, yet she
concealed this privilege out of humility, even as she con-
cealed the privilege of her virginity in her purification, and
the privilege of freedom from pain when at the point of
death, which privilege she even concealed by lying in bed
as though weak with illness, as has been explained on
page 105 a. So having resumed her strength, which she
had not lost, but which had been in abeyance at the afore-
said place, she came down the foot of the mount into the
valley, where, after visiting the sepulchres of some of the
prophets, she came to the sepulchre of her own most chaste
husband [i55 «] Joseph, who was buried there in a cleft of
the rock, before which sepulchre she would stand and
remember him with pleasure. From thence, crossing the

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 509

bridge over the brook, she would go up again to Mount
Sion, and when there would go to the place where she her-
self and the disciples received the Holy Ghost on the day of
Pentecost, where again she would be filled with fresh joy.
Thence she went down and sought the sepulchre of the
prophet David, her ancestor, after which she would go
into her own oratory, which was hard by, in which it is a
pious belief that she had for relics two great stones which
were brought to her from Mount Sinai by angels, one of
them from the place where Moses saw the bush burn with-
out being consumed, before which stone she offered fitting
thanks for the glorious preservation of her own virginity ;
the other from the top of Mount Sion, where the ten com-
mandments were given to Moses ; before which stone she
would meditate upon the excellence of those command-
ments, and thank God that it was through her that He
was given to the world by whom every jot and tittle of the
law was fulfilled, as we read in the fifth chapter of St-
INIatthew. She had these two stones, by means of which
she could visit the desert of Sinai, because she was in truth
a pilgrim. For an account of these stones, see page 103 b.
After she rose from her prayers at this place she would
return to her house, and bring her pilgrimage to an end
for that day.

For an account of the house wherein the most blessed
Virgin Mary dwelt, see page 205 a. On the subject of this
pilgrimage of the most blessed Virgin Mary, Odilio, an
ancient doctor of the Church, says : ' If we desire to know
what the blessed Virgin did after the Lord's Ascension,
without doubt she frequently visited the places of the
Nativity, the Passion, the Resurrection, and the Ascension,
wept therein, and imprinted upon them kisses with her
most holy mouth.' And St. Jerome, in his sermon on the
Assumption, speaks of this pilgrimage as follows : 'Perhaps

5IO THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

we may suppose that through the greatness of her love she
would dwell in the place where her Son was born, died,
and was buried, among which places her love would be fed
with pious reflections, as it is the property of love always
to believe that it finds that for which it longs.' This
pilgrimage is also spoken of by Antonius, in his Sunima,
part iv., volume xv., chapter xliii., § 2. Hovvbeit, both of
these writers believe that this pilgrimage of the blessed
Virgin Mary is rather to be taken in a spiritual than in
an actual sense ; though they do not therein deny that she
did actually make this pilgrimage, and thereby accumu-
lated great merits. She earned merit by every act of her
free will, and consequently by every; act of her life. The
reason of this is, that the intellect is always right, unless it
mixes itself up with vain fancies, and is led astray by them.
Now, the intellect of the blessed Virgin was as clear of
useless fancies as possible, wherefore she obtained merit
by her pilgrimage. The second reason is this : whenever
the reason cannot err in its decision, there the will also
cannot choose many things, but chooses the last and best
of them. Now, all of these conditions were present in
the case of the blessed Virgin ; wherefore it is written in
the tenth chapter of St. Luke's Gospel, ' Mary hath chosen
the better part.' Thirdly, the Apostle hath said in the
tenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians,
' Whether ye eat [(^] or drink or whatever ye do, do all to
the glory of God.* This precept no saint has been able to
keep perfectly save only the most blessed Virgin Mary,
who always virtuously commanded the movements of her
own free will, and gained merit by so doing. Wherefore
Odilio says : * One thing we know for certain, that is, that
every act of Mary's was always done with the thought of
the Lord before her eyes.' Jerome also, in his sermon on
the Assumption, says : * I suppose that all the heart and all

BROTHER FELIX FADRI. 511

the strength of mankind, taken all together, would not
suffice to understand fully how ceaselessly she was con-
sumed by the heat of holy love, how she was moved by
the incitement of heavenly mysteries to be filled with the
Holy Ghost, while she turned over in her mind all that she
had heard, had seen, and had known.' From this it is
evident that, when she was walking as a pilgrim from place
to place, the most blessed Virgin Mary, though she was
doing a work of virtue, nevertheless might, nay ought, to
have been better employed ; since the apostle says, * The
manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit
withal,' I Cor. xii. ; and I Tim. iv., ' Bodily exercise
profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things.-*
She might therefore have neglected this bodily exercise,
and have devoted herself entirely to the pious practice of
pure contemplation and quietude. It is well known that
they who wander in the body are distracted in the spirit.
In answer to this we shall reply that the most blessed
Virgin Mary had this especial privilege, that at one and
the same time she could live a life of action and of con-
templation, which never has been granted to anyone else.
To some is given an active, to others a contemplative, life ;
some — for instance, the apostles — live both lives, but at
different times. But it was given to the most blessed
Virgin Mary to live both lives at the same moment, so
that the child could be nourished by her outwardly and
its divinity contemplated by her inwardly ; she could move
from place to place, and nevertheless keep her mind im-
movably fixed upon its appointed object. The devout
panegyrists of the blessed Virgin tell us that she remained
ever in a rapture of piety, to which only a few of the
greatest saints have attained by snatches and for an instant
of time at exceeding long intervals. Besides this, as
Albertus tells us, she daily partook of the sacrament of

512 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

the Eucharist, as is set forth on page loy a ; whereby she
obtained such fixity of mind that nothing which she saw
or heard could distract her. Every day before setting out
on her pilgrimage she heard Mass, and communicated
with the most burning piety, and herein was moved
by a fervour of spirit belonging to God rather than to
herself.

There appears to be another reason why the most blessed
Virgin Mary ought not to have gone abroad publicly every
day, lest she should or might have been the cause of ruin to
anyone ; for it must be believed that she was most beauteous
in body as well as in soul, seeing that the Holy Spirit saith
of her, ' Thou art fair throughout, in thee is no blemish,'
nor did age or the labour of life passed under a monastic
rule disfigure her. The answer to this is that the sight of
the Virgin could not lead anyone into sin. St. Bonaventure
tells us that he had been truly told by Jews that at the
sight of the blessed Virgin Mary, [156^] albeit she was
exceeding lovely, no one was inflamed with evil carnal
concupiscence, but that all feelings of the kind were ex-
tinguished in the beholder by her divine aspect, as though
a cold virgin dew breathed forth from her eyes or emanated
from her most chaste mind, even as on the contrary one
is excited by the sight of a sinful and wanton woman.
Furthermore, it seems as though the daily appearance of
the most blessed Virgin Mary in public might give occasion
for still greater jealousy among the already jealous Jews;
for on the Son's account they were most bitterly incensed
against His mother, and when they saw her pass through
the city they might perhaps be excited to violence by their
rage and anger. To this I reply in the words of the previous
answer, that, as the sight of her quenched the fire of concu-
piscence, even so it damped the fire and flames of jealousy,
lage, and hatred, and whosoever looked upon her lost the

BROTHER FELIX FADRT. 5^3

fury of cruelty and anger, and became piously and reverently
disposed towards her ; wherefore she was respected by all
as a puissant, virtuous, honourable, and amiable lady.
Thus we read in the twenty-fourth chapter of Wisdom,
' In the holy tabernacle I served before Him, and so was
I established in Sion. Likewise in the beloved city He
gave me rest, and in Jerusalem was my power. And I
took root in an honourable people, even the portion of the
Lord's inheritance.' Wherefore even when the Jews were
full of anger against her most sweet Son, no one molested
the Virgin. We must not believe the painters, who repre-
sent Jesus led along carrying the cross, and men striking
the Virgin's head and kicking her with their feet. W^e
must bear in mind Horace's maxim,

'All the Avorld knows, there ne'er was anything
Which painters dared not paint, or poets sing.'

So much, then, for the pilgrimage of the most blessed
Virgin, which particulars I have thought fit to insert in
my book of wanderings, in order that my own wanderings
may have the better excuse. So at the place where the
most blessed Virgin Mary was wont to refresh herself, we
also sat down and took breath and rested ourselves after
having said our prayer there, and received indulgences (-f).

THE rVRAMID OF JEHOSHArHAT, AFTER WHOM THE
WHOLE VALLEY IS CALLED THE VALLEY OF JE-
HOSHAPHAT,

Going on from the place where the most blessed Virgin
Mary was wont to rest, we went down to the foot of the
Mount (of Olives), and when at the foot of the mount, wo
went down (the valley) towards the south, having the

514 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

IMount of Olives on our left hand, the brook Cedron on
our right, and above it, on the mount on the other bank of
the brook, the holy city. As we went down we came to
the bridge over the brook, which, however, we passed
by and left behind. While thus walking we came to
a costly sepulchre, cut into the shape of a tower out of
the solid rock of which the mount is formed. Its builders
have cut into a projection of the mount, leaving as much
©f it standing as was contained in the pyramid, and cutting
away the rock round about it, in such sort that the pyramid
stands up all alone by itsejf, as though it had been built
there by cunning workmen from the foundations, though
in truth it is part of the mount, and hath stood there from
the beginning of the world. This pyramid measures
sixteen great cubits in circuit, and it [I?] may be three
cubits in height. At the top it has a sharp - pointed
pinnacle, with a roof such as towers have. Beneath the
roof it is hollowed out, and windows are cut in it, so that
at the back of the pyramid a man can drag himself up and
get inside the pyramid through the window, as I did myself
one day when I was there alone, wishing to see what was
inside. This pyramid was made for the sepulchre of some
great king and powerful man, but there are different stories
as to who the man was for whom it was made. Some say
that King Solomon caused it to be hewn out for a sepulchre
« for his Ethiopian wife, the daughter of Pharaoh, and that
''' she was buried therein. It was in her honour that he
likewise composed the Song of Songs, and he built temples
to her idols Moloch and Chamos {s2c), did many other things,
treating God Himself with irreverence for love of her, and
las', of all he hewed out this noble sepulchre for her. Others
say, and this is the received opinion among the Saracens
and Eastern Christians, that Absalom, the son of David,
caused this rock to be hewn out that he might be buried

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 515

therein. This story is based upon the eighteenth chapter
of the Second Book of Samuel ; but because he made war
against his father, and died miserably, Absalom was buried
in another place, beyond the Jordan. Because of this there
is a custom that all the boys who pass by this pyramid,
whether they be Jewish, Saracen, or Christian boys, pick
up stones from the ground, and cast them at him against
the pyramid ; and as they throw the stones they curse
Absalom, and jeer at him for his evil death, in token of
their abhorrence of his disobedience to his father. More-
over, if anyone in Jerusalem hath a disobedient son, he leads
him hither and forces him by threats and stripes to cast
stones at it, and to curse Absalom, and relates to his son
the story of the wickedness and death of Absalom. This
is the most efficacious corrective for boys in Jerusalem.
In consequence of so many boys throwing stones at it, the
pebbles lie in great heaps beside it, and if they were not
cleared away from time to time, it would long ago have
been covered over with stones. Others say that Jehosh-
aphat. King of Jerusalem, caused this pyramid to be
made that he might be buried therein. This I do not
believe, because he was a holy man^ a follower after the
good deeds of his forefather David, and as he was not
divided from him in his life, even so he did not seek to be
divided from him in his burial. Thus in the last chapter
of the First Book of Kings we are told that Jehoshaphat,
when he died, was buried in the sepulchre of his father, in
the city of David. Hence it appears that the story ought
to be told in another way, that Jehoshaphat was a man
of magnificent ideas, who made many wondrous works,
amongst which he caused this pyramid to be hewn out to
show his grandeur and for a wonder among men, and that
hereby he obtained so great renown that the whole of this
valley, which previously was called the valley of Ccla, wiS,

33—2

5i6 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

because of this pyramid, thereafter called the valley of
Jehoshaphat by all men unto the present day. There are
no indulgences connected with this pyramid ; so, after we
had looked at it, we went on to the rest (of the holy^
places).

THE SEPULCHRE OF JOSEPH, THE HUSBAND OF THE
VIRGIN MARY, AND OF THE HOLY OLD MAN SIMEON.

On the right-hand side of the pyramid there are two
holes in the wall of rock, which are said to be two sepulchres.
In one of them was buried Joseph, the husband of the most
[157 rt] blessed Virgin Mary, and the bringer-up of Jesus
Christ. In the other lies Simeon, the old man who took
the Lord in his arms and sang the hymn, ' Lord, now
lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace,' as we read in
the second chapter of St. Luke's Gospel. We bowed our-
selves to the earth before the tombs of these holy men,
said our prayers, and received indulgences (-|*). How holy
and remarkable these men were we learn from the Gospel
truth, but more especially with regard to St. Joseph
no one can doubt that he enjoyed special privileges of
grace, and stood high in merit with God, to have had so
great a treasure entrusted to him. For his praises see
the works of Albertus; he is mentioned in the passage
(Luke i, 27), ' To a virgin espoused to a man, whose name
was Joseph.' See also in Gerson's works, in his sermons
on the Nativity, on the blessed Virgin Mary, and on the
incarnation of Joseph, Herein we ought not to believe
the painters, who depict Joseph himself as a little decrepit
mannikin, bent double and leaning on a staff, gray-headed,
and altogether incapable of providing for either the Virgin
or her Son. He was a man of vigorous strength, a powerful
labourer, a man of ripe middle age, and both before and

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 517

after his betrothal to the Virgin he remained undefiled.
With regard to these matters, see the aforesaid sermon by
Gerson.

THE SEPULCHRE OF THE PROPHET ZACHARIAS, AND
OTHER SEPULCHRES AND DWELLINGS OF SAINTS.

Leaving these sepulchres, we came to another tomb
hewn in the rock. This they call the sepulchre of the holy
Zacharias the prophet, the son of Barachias, whom the
Jews slew between the temple and the altar, as Christ cast
in their teeth (Matt, xxiii. 35). So here we bent our knees
and begged for the mediation of the prophets, and received
indulgences (-f-). After rising up from thence, we went on
down the banks of the brook, and passed by many dwellings
and cells cut out of the walls of rock on the side of the
Mount of Olives, wherein once devout and religious Christian
men dwelt ; for the Mount of Olives is stony at its foot,
and full of hollow caves in the rock, which caves were used
by the ancients for sepulchres. In later times they were
the dwellings of monks and saints, but now are abandoned
alike b)'' the living and the dead, save that in some of them
dwell some most unhappy infidels, who for their infidelity
can dwell nowhere else among men. We viewed these
cells with wonder at the plain living of the saints of old,
who out of their love for God and desire for the Holy
Land shut themselves up among the tombs of the dead,
and endured to dwell in tiny caves ; and we felt angry
with our own selves, who become weary of dwelling in
great palaces and spacious and beauteous monasteries,
because we grow lukewarm in our love towards God, and
neglect the duties of monastic life.

5i8 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

THE CAVE OF ST. JAMES THE APOSTLE, WHEREIN HE LAY
HID WHILE THE LORD WAS BEING TAKEN.

Now, as we went further down, we came to a great cave,
with many works cut into the rock, full of dark hiding-
places, with two stories of caverns, and holes cut in the
upper chambers like windows. While [d] we were rambling
about in this cave, it came into my mind that I had seen
a place like it in all respects in Suabia, near Gmiind,
which place is called Eberstein. He who has seen the
one has seen the other, save that the Palestine one is
larger and has the deeper cave. To this cave St. James
the Less fled for refuge when the Lord was taken prisoner,
and there he lay hid. We are told by Josephus and
Jerome, in their lives of famous men, that when the
Lord died upon the cross he vowed that he would not
eat food until he should see the Lord risen from the dead ;
so on the day of the resurrection the Lord came into this
cave to him and Himself gave him food. About this
apostle see on page io6 a. After the apostle's death his
body was brought into this cave, and buried there ; conse-
quently from that time forth the place began to be venerated
and resorted to by Christ's faithful peo: le even to this day.
Wherefore the Lord Sixtus IV. attached plenary indul-
gences to this place, which indulgences were first published
at the time of my first pilgrimage, and were read on the
spot to penitent pilgrims, sealed with a leaden seal. So
here we bowed ourselves to the earth, said the prayers
appointed in the Processional of the Holy Land, and
rf^ceived {-ff) plenary indulgences with a devout spirit. I
have read in some pilgrim's book that this place was once
given to the brethren of the Order of Preaching Friars,
who built a church and cloister there, hollowed out still
deeper caves in the rock, and dwelt there awhile. At

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 519

last, through the insults of the infidels and their constant
robberies and attacks, they were forced to depart thence
and desert the place, and so the church with its outbuild-
ings and all were brought to nothing. After the departure
of the pilgrims I often visited this place, and read my
hours therein. I diligently explored its caves, and some-
times used to fancy that I was in the midst of a convent
of brethren, and was filled with heartfelt joy. But when I
noticed the pitiful desolation of the place, I used to sit
sorrowful. This place was very fit for brethren of the
Order of Preaching Friars, and at the present day it would
be a very suitable place for them to dwell in, if all other
circumstances were equally favourable, for many causes, as
follows :

I. Because of the admirable preacher for whom the cave
was made, that is to say, St. James the apostle, who when
in the act of preaching and setting forth the truth was cast
down from the chancel rails and lamed ; yet even then he
did not cease from preaching until he was cast down from
the pinnacle of the temple and died, when he was carried
hither from Jerusalem and buried. Now, who ought to
own the sepulchre of so earnest a preacher of God save
those brethren whose beginning, middle, end, and name
is preaching? For this cause, when our order was first
founded it was given the church of St. James at Paris,
where up to the present day we have a convent of three
hundred brethren of great piety, wherefore in those parts
the brethren of the preaching order are called the brethren
of St. James.

II. One reason why this place suits the preaching friars
is because of the virtues and constancy of this apostle.
He was chaste throughout his life, and altogether [158.2]
apostolic aiid devout all his days, which things all agree
with the customs of the preachers.

5=0 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

III. Because of the Mount of Olives, which mount, as
aforesaid, is lighted by the lights of the temple of God,
and by the sun, by oil, and by the lamps of the churches.
Even so may the Order of Preaching Friars be named a
mount of lights, for it is lighted by theological science,
which comes from the temple of God ; by moral science,
which shines from the sun ; by the light of nature, which
comes from their own industry, which is typified by the
oil which grows therein, and which is the food of lamps ;
and by experimental science, typified by the lamps of the
churches.

IV. Because of the brook, wherein is cast all the refuse
brought forth from the city, which there vanishes and is
washed away, as aforesaid. Even so all the uncleanness
of the world is taken away by the wisdom of preachers.
Prov. xviii., ' The words of a man's mouth are as deep
waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.'
Holy Scripture also is an overflowing brook, whereof a
preacher ought to drink, as the Psalm says, ' He shall
drink of the brook by the way,' and another Psalm, ' He
shall drink of pleasure as of a brook.'

V. Because of the cedars which used to grow beside the
brook ; for cedars are evergreen, and lofty, and their wood
is incorruptible. Even so the preaching friar hath by his
three vows the verdure of chastity, the loftiness of poverty,
and the incorruptibility of obedience.

VI. Because the situation of the place is suitable for
preaching friars ; for the place lies in a valley, without the
city walls, and yet close to the city. Even so preaching
friars ought ever to dwell in the valley of humility, away
from the noise of the world, yet near to mankind, that they
may edify them by their words and example.

VII. Because of its ruggedness ; for the place is among
rocks, hard and rough. Even so ought the life of a

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 521

preaching friar to be spent in hardship and chastise-
ment of the body, that it may be brought into subjec-
tion, lest, after preaching to others, they should them-
selves become castaways, in the words of the apostle
(i Cor. ix.).

VI I I. The place is solitary, meet for study and con-
templation, which befit a good and useful preacher, and
cannot well be practised in a crowd.

IX. The place is somewhat strait and narrow, typifying
the mind collected within itself, and removed from aimless
wanderings.

X. The place is close to the Mount of Olives, the Mount
of Offence, the Mount Sion, the Valley of Hinnon, and the
field of Aceldama. Herein may be noted the variety of
subjects for a preacher, who may preach either about the
Mount of Olives, or virtues, about the Mount of Offence,
or vices, about Aceldama, or death, or about the Valley of
Hinnon, that is, about hell and eternal damnation. Or he
may preach to the mountains and to the valleys, that is,
he may be a debtor both to the wise and to the unwise, as
saith the apostle (Rom. i. 14) ; or to the contemplative
and the active ; or to the religious and to laymen ; to just
men and sinners ; to good and bad. So much for this
subject.

THE BRIDGE OVER THE BROOK CEDRON, AND THE
DESCRIPTION OF ITS BANKS UPWARDS FROM THE
PLACE WHERE THE BRIDGE CROSSES IT.

When we came forth from the cave after examining it,
we did not go any further down the valley, but went back
by the way by which we came, as far as the pyramid [d] of
Jehoshaphat, near which an arched bridge of stone crosses
the brook. So we went to that bridge, and, kneeling

522 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

before it in prayer, obtained plenary indulgences (ft). The
Greek histories, and the writer of the Speculum Hisioriale,
tell us the following tale : that when Solomon was building
his house of the wood of Lebanon, there came into the
hands of the workmen a log of wood which they could not
make any use of, and which they threw away. Someone
dragged this beam down to the brook, and made a foot-
bridge of it across the brook at this spot. Now, when the
Queen of Sheba, who is also said to have been one of the
Sibyls, was about to cross the brook here together with
the king, she became astonished at seeing this wood, and
threw herself into the brook and worshipped it, revealing
the mysteries of the cross, and saying that this wood would
one day form the Saviour's croSs. In consequence of this
Solomon took the beam away from thence, and sunk it in
the bowels of the earth near the Temple, as hath been told
on page 140^. In the place of the beam which he had
taken away, he caused a stone bridge to be made, and
over this bridge the Lord often passed with His disciples,
whenever He desired to go to the Mount of Olives, or to
Bethany, and it was across this bridge that He was led to
the house of Annas. David likewise crossed the brook
Cedron at this place barefoot with all the people, when he
fled from Jerusalem from before the face of Absalom his
son. Here also stood the priests with the ark of the Lord,
until the whole of the people had crossed over, as we read
in 2 Sam. xv. So here we reverently crossed the bridge,
and went up the steep slope of the holy Mount Sion, up
which the Lord Jesus was led in bonds from the garden to
the house of Annas the high-priest. Howbeit, when we
had reached the top of the mount, we agreed that, notwith-
standing the exceeding great heat of the day, we would,
after dinner, visit and see the rest of the holy places
round about Mount Sion, to which we had not yet been.

I

BROTHER FELIX FABRL 523

So the knights hurried down to the hospital of St. John,
to take their food, while we religious entered the convent
of the brethren, and dined with them.

THE VISIT TO THE PLACES AT THE FOOT OF MOUNT
SION, AND FIRST, THE FOUNTAIN OF THE BLESSED
VIRGIN MARY.
After dinner those of the pilgrims who were strong met
together for further pilgrimage and toil. Indeed, it is no
slight labour to go thus in pilgrimage from place to place,
as has been noted on page 96 b. So when we were met
toeether, we went down from Mount Sion on the northern
side of the mount by a long road, leaving the road on our
right hand by which we had come up before. Now, on the
slope of Mount Sion itself we came to a sort of cave, an
open abyss in the earth, through whose mouth we entered,
and descended into the bowels of the earth, walking on
sand without any stairs ; and since we had entered a place
which was shaded from the sunlight, we could see nothing,
or very little, because it is the nature of the eyes that when
one goes into the shade out of the sunlight all seems dark.
As we were going down into this cave, [159 «] there came
to meet us, running swiftly up from the depths below, a
fierce Saracen, raging wondrously with loud shouts, dis-
playing his anger in his voice, countenance, and gesticula-
tions, who strove to drive us out of the cave, so that we
might not come to the water. But as he was alone, and
we were many, we did not heed him, but continued to
descend, whereat he redoubled his cries, roused himself to
yet more frantic rage, and if he had but had a stick, he
would have put us all to flight. When this Saracen saw
that we took no heed of him, he swiftly turned himself
round, outran all of us who were going down, and planted
himself upon the edge of the fountain, where he fought in

524 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

every possible way with those who wished to drink the
water, and drove back, pushed, and struck them as they
came up to it. But a certain Lombard knight from Milan
went boldly up to this Saracen, seized him by the arm,
and dragged him forcibly away from the fountain. Here-
upon the Saracen became enraged against the knight, fell
upon him, and began to beat him with his fists, and the
knight, on the other hand, defended himself with his fists,
because neither of them had any arms, and they became
so angry with one another that had not the pilgrims
separated them they would have torn one another to
pieces. When the Saracen saw that he could not wreak
his vengeance on the knight, he began to run swiftly
upwards, meaning to bring others to help him to fight
with us ; but we caught him and held him fast, though he
shouted and struggled exceedingly. Indeed, we should
have been in great peril if he had got out of our hands,
and we were displeased with the knight. But, after much
wrangling, some of the knights untied their purses, and
showed the Saracen some money, offering it to him if he
would stay there and leave off his noise, and promise to
keep the peace with the pilgrim who had struck him. I
need say no more : as soon as he saw the money, he
changed into a different man, for his countenance became
calm, his voice sounded more gentle, his anger was appeased,
and he offered himself, cheerfully and Avithout reserve, to
serve us in whatever way we might choose, and he who
before could not be quieted by words or by blows or by
the numbers of the pilgrims, when he saw these coins made
ready to obey us, for, as Solomon says in Eccl. x., ' Money
answereth all things.' So when he had received money,
he went down into the gulf, drew water for all of us, and
freely gave it to us. When we had all drunk of that clear
water, we came up again, said our prayers before the

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 525

mouth of the cave, and obtained indulc::ences (f) ; for this
is the fountain of the blessed Virgin Mary, and it is said
that on the fortieth day, when she came with Joseph and
the child Jesus from Bethlehem, that she might present the
child Jesus in the temple, she descended into this gulf, and
abode there, because she had no place to lodge in the city,
any more than in Bethlehem, and yet she did not choose
to stay among the other poor people in the court of the
temple, because she feared Herod ; for the rumour of the
King who was born of her had gone abroad into the land,
whereat Herod was disquieted, and all Jerusalem with
him. Howbeit from this bridge she could go up secretly
to the Golden Gate, bring the boy Jesus unnoticed into [d]
the temple, and perform all the rites appertaining to the
law of purification, as indeed she did ; for no one was
present save those who were warned by the Holy Spirit
to be present at that hour. Furthermore, whenever she
came year by year to Jerusalem, she lodged in this chasm,
and when she made her pilgrimage she used to pass this
way, and refresh herself beside this fountain.

THE MIRACULOUS ROCK WITH THE RENT WHICH WAS
TORN DURING THE LORD'S PASSION.

After having performed our duties as pilgrims at the
fountain of the glorious Virgin Mary, we went on further,
and circled round the Mount Sion, going towards its
southern side. Upon the west side we entered the valley
of Siloam, and came upon a rivulet of water, which silently
runs towards the valley of Jehoshaphat, as Isaiah says
(ch. viii.), ' the waters of Shiloah that go softly.' We went
up along this stream, which runs down by the side of
Mount Sion, and came to the place where a high rock, as
it were a foot of Mount Sion, rises out of the stream, which
rock has a great rent reaching from the top to the bottom.

»

526 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

so that a man can without squeezing enter that rent in the
rock. Now, it is said that this rent was made at the time
of the Lord's passion, as we read in Matt, xxvii. 51, 'and
the rocks rent.' So we leaped over the stream, and entered
into the rent, until we dared not go any further in because
of the darkness.

THE BATHING-POOL OF SILOAM, WHEREIN THE BLIND
xMAN BATHED AND RECEIVED HIS SIGHT.

When we came out of the rent in the rock, we leaped
back over the stream of Siloam, and went on up stream
to the bathing-pool of Siloam, to which pool Jesus sent
Celidonius {st'c), who had been blind from his birth, to wash.
He washed and received his sight, as we read in John ix.
This bathing-pool was nothing more than a kind of pond
formed below the fountain of Siloam, wherein the water
which flowed from the fountain collected together, em-
banked round about with stones and earth, just as they
make fishponds in our country. In this bathing-pool there
is now no water, because the stream does not flow into it,
but runs down by the side of it. A certain Saracen has at
the present day planted a garden of potherds within the
walls of the bathing-pool, and some trees have grown in it.
■Notwithstanding this, we entered the place on account of
the miracle wrought therein by Christ in the days of old,
said our prayers, and received indulgences (f ). In a certain
book of pilgrimage 1 have read that it was in this pool that
Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, was bathing when David saw
her over against his house, lusted after her, and took her;
but thio I cannot understand, because there could not be
any view of the fountain of Siloam from Mount Sion, and
in the text (2 Sam. xi. 2) it is said that the woman was
washing herself in her upper chamber over against the
king's house.

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 5^7

THE SOURCE FROM WHENCE THE FOUNTAm OF SILOAM
FLOWS FORTH, BENEATH MOUNT SION. [l6o«]

When we came out of the bathing-pool, we followed the
channel of the stream, and came to the fountain of Siloam,
where it runs out from the Mount Sion. Now, as we came
up thither, walking up stream along the side of the brook,
we wondered at the foul and loathsome colour of the water ;
but when we came to the fountain, we discovered the cause
of the dirty colour : for a Saracen, who was a tanner,^ stood
at the mouth of the cleft from whence the water gushes
forth, and was soaking, pounding with his feet hides and
skins lately stripped from beasts, so that the water was
rendered foul and bloody, wherfore no one could drink or
wash his face below where the tanner was. After we had
come to the tanner, we entered into a cleft in the mount,
which is deep and high, but not wide, and from whence
water flows from the innermost parts of the earth, and
there, being above where the tanner was, we drank and
washed our eyes, in memory of the miracle wrought in
this water upon the man who was born blind (John xx.).
The common people say that whosoever washes his eyes
in water from this fount will never afterwards suffer pain
in his eyes. I place as much faith in this story as I do in
the saying that whosoever bathes in Jordan will never grow
old. So here we stood exceeding closely crowded together
in this rent in the rock, this opening in the earth, and
there was much noise among the pilgrims ; those in front
cried out against the impatience of those behind, and those
who were last cried out at the slowness of those who were
in front, and those who were in the middle cried out

1 Tobler, in his note to Theoderich, ch. xix., quotes Bernard le
Tresorier, ch. xvi. (Guizot's Collection de Memoires pour I'histoire de
France), ' De cele eue tanoit Ton les cuirs de la cite.'

528 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

because they were squeezed by both the others ; and there
was much impatience there, because wc could not enter
into the cleft save by straddling our legs, and walking
along with one foot on one side of the water, and the other
on the other side, for we were all shod with costly shoes,
which would have been spoiled by being wetted : howbeit,
many were pushed bodily down into the stream itself. So
we hurriedly made our way out of the cleft, out of the
mouth of the cave, and brought out the holy water in
basins and bottles for those who could not go into the
cleft ; for, by reason of the aforesaid crowding and pushing,
our companions, the pilgrim ladies, did not go in, but sat
quietly and peaceably saying their prayers outside, and
we brought water to them (i*i"). When we were all outside
together, we read the appointed prayers, and received
plenary indulgences (ff).

A DESCRIPTION OF THE FOUNTAIN AND WATER OF

SILOAM.

From what hath been afore said, the description of the
place will be in some sort understood ; yet furthermore it
should be noted that this flowing water fulfils the signs of
a standing miracle, in that it flows not continually, but
leaves off for three, [d] or it may be four, days in a week,
and pours out sometimes less water, sometimes none at
all, sometimes an abundant flood. I have myself beheld
the cleft sometimes dry, sometimes running with a scanty
rill of water, sometimes so full of water that none could
enter it. I had a curious eye for this water, and ofttimes
have come down thither alone before sunrise to see what
was passing ; for this unequal flow is not according to
nature, but came to pass by a miracle in the days of the
prophet Isaiah. "When Hezekiah, the King of Jerusalem,
heard that the host of the Assyrians was coming to encamp

BROTHER FELIX FADRI. 529

against the holy city, he stopped up the fountains and
filled up the cisterns round about Jeriuilcm with eartli
and stones, to the end that the enemy when they came
might find no water, and so be forced to go away through
thirst, 2 Chron. xxxii. Now, in front of the fountain of
Siloam he made as it were a pond, wherein the water
gathered, for the use of the people of the city, who could
go down thither from the city and carry the water up
again ; but the enemy also could come to the place, and
take water from thence. Wherefore the holy Isaiah prayed
to the Lord, and the Lord granted his prayer, so that
whensoever the people came down from the city, they
found water enough ; but when the enemy came, the
fountain dried, and they were not able to find any water.
Wherefore, in memory of so great a miracle, it flows not
continually, but at certain times. This miracle is men-
tioned by Josephus and by the writer of the Speculiini
Historialc.

Close beside this fountain the prophet Isaiah was buried
by the people after he had been slain by King Manasses.
Now, when Jerusalem was built by Nehemiah, after its
destruction by King Nebuchadnezzar, the lord of the
county of Mizpah built the gate of the fountain high up in
the city, through which the people went out and came
down to draw water, and built the wall of the pool of
Siloam, which had fallen down, as we are told in the third
chapter of the Book of Nehemiah. These walls were
cast down by the Romans in their siege of Jerusalem,
•even as every other thing was cast down ; but the Chris-
tians who came after them built them up again, and
devout men built themselves dwellings round about them,
and built a sort of monastery above the fountain, as may
be seen at this day, for in front of the fountain there
is a pool like a bath, and it is set about with walls and

34

530 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

vaults like the passages round a cloister, and the arches of
the roofs rest upon marble columns. This building is
partly in ruins, and the remainder threatens to fall into
ruin also. It would be an easy task to restore the ruins of
this holy fountain, but no one touches them or puts forth
his hand to them, and so the place grows day by day more
ruinous, even as do the buildings in the other holy places.
In the days of old this place was held in honour, because it
was included within the king's garden, and there were steps
leading up from the fountain up to the city of David on
the Mount Sion (Nehem. iii.). I cannot conceive how it
was done, or how it was managed, that Hezekiah, the King
of Jerusalem, brought the waters of Siloam up into the
city, and up such a great distance, as we are told by
Nicholas de Lyra, in his commentary on the forty-eighth
chapter of Ecclesiasticus, seeing that [i6i «] from the
fountain of Siloam up into the city is more than forty
paces straight up, and there is no great plenty of water in
the fountain, nor doth it run so vehemently as to be able
to turn water-wheels, whereby perchance it might be pos-
sible to lead the water up.

THE PLACE WHERE THE PROPHET ISAIAH WAS SAWN
ASUNDER, AND THE CAUSE OF HIS DEATH.

We now left the holy fountain, and climbed up the
Mount Sion. On the slope thereof we came to a flat place,^
whereon stands a tree with thick branches and leaves. I
know not of what kind the tree is, but it is like a lime-tree.
Here is the place where the wicked King Manasses, who
filled Jerusalem with idols and shed much innocent blood,
caused the prophet Isaiah to be slain because he had
reproved him for his wickedness. At that time there
stood a great and lofty cedar on the spot where the afore-
said tree now stands, and when the executioners brought

BROTHER FELIX FADRL 531

the prophet to it to slay him there, the trunk of the cedar
opened, Isaiah entered into the rent in the tree, and it
closed up again and hid the prophet within it. Hovvbcit,
the king was not converted even by this miracle, but
ordered the tree to be cut open, dragged forth the prophet,
and slew him, causing him to be cut asunder with a wooden
saw. In this place we said the appointed prayers, and
received indulgences (-f). Afterwards we sat under the
shade of that tree and rested ourselves, conversing about the
holiness of the prophet who was slain there, of whom Jerome
says that in his prophecies he seems rather to be weaving
together a gospel than prophesying, wherefore he deserves
to be called an evangelist rather than a piophet. For this
cause his prophecies are read throughout the season of the
Lord's advent and on the night of Christ's nativity, both at
morning-prayer and in the Mass, even as though they
were part of one of the Gospels. By reason of the excel-
lence of the writings of the prophet Isaiah, St. Ambrose
bade Augustine read them immediately after his conversion.

THE PLACE WHERE JUDAS HANGED HIMSELF UPON A

TREE. .

When we had finished resting beneath the aforesaid tree
we went on our way, and as we went one pointed to us the
place where once stood the tree whereon the traitor Judas
hanged himself, and offered to lead us to the place. But
■we scorned to visit it, nor would we move our feet one step
for it — nay, we were loth to raise our eyes and look upon
it, since there is no grace or indulgence, but penance,
despair, and shame. Howbeit, we stood for a brief space
looking towards the place, and read the verse in abuse of
him: ' The heavens shall reveal the wickedness of Judas,
and the earth shall rise up against him.'

34—2

5.-52 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

THE CAVES TO WHICH THE APOSTLES FLED WHEN THE
LORD WAS TAKEN, AND IN WHICH THEY LAY HID.

When we had finished chanting our curses over Judas we
came down the slope of Mount Sion into the valley which
divides Mount Sion itself from Mount Gihon, which valley-
is narrow, and joins the valley of Siloam [d] in the midst
thereof. We crossed this narrow valley and came to the
foot of Mount Aceldama on the opposite side, which mount
stands on an elbow of Mount Gihon towards the north,
even as Mount Calvary is on an elbow of Mount Sion
towards the north. Natheless, I believe that that part
which now is called Mount Aceldama, because of the field,
was all of it in old times called Mount Gihon — that is to
say, both the mount and the elbow of the mount, as hath
come to pass with the Mount Sion and Mount Calvary
aforesaid, and with Mount Sinai and Mount Horeb, for
there the lower part is called Mount Sinai and the upper
part Mount Horeb, as also with the Mount of Olives,
whereof the lower part towards the south is called the
Mount of Offence and the upper part is called the Mount
of Olives. Even so this mount from the valley up to the
field is called Mount Aceldama, and from the field upwards
is called Mount Gihon. So we went up the Mount Acel-
dama, up a steep- hill, dragging ourselves up cliffs and
rocks, and we came to orchards of figs, pomegranates, and
other fruit-trees. In these orchards there were many rocks
rising high into the air, and walls of rock, wherein were
hewn caves, single, double, triple, and quadruple, whereof
I have spoken on page 125 a. The ancients hollowed out
these stony rocks for burial-places, as I have said on
page 157^, and afterwards, in the days of the Christians,
men, out of love for the Holy Land, chose these caverns for
dwelling-places, being unwilling to dwell anywhere save in

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 533

sepulchres, that therein they might cheerfully await death.
Whenever one of the saints of old could obtain for himself
such a dwelling as this in the Holy Land, he thought that
he had found a treasure. To these caverns the Apostles
fled when they forsook the Lord in the garden, when He
was carried away bound to be brought before the high-
priests. They could not bear to forsake so sweet a Master.
yet they could not follow him, nor was there any better
place for them to abide in than a darksome cavern— nay,
in tlxese caves themselves they strove to make their way
further in, as far, if possible, as the innermost bowels of tha
earth, that there, at least, they might find a place wherein
to groan, weep, shriek, and howl aloud, for when standing
at the mouths of these caverns they dared not utter loud
moans and cries, lest they should be heard, but as far as
they could they restrained their cries together with their
sorrow within their own breasts. And, indeed, their breasts
were so filled with grief, their throats, faces, and heads so
swelled with woe, that they filled up their mouths with
their clothes, lest their groans should burst forth and be
heard at a distance. So in this holy place we walked in
pitiful mood from one cavern to another, and scattered
ourselves about among these caves, showing our respect for
the places of the sorrow of the Apostles. As we stood
within the caves one pilgrim would address another thus :
•Lo, my brother, in this cavern perchance [i62<^] sat the
beloved Apostle Andrew, lamenting the misfortune of his
Master.' Another sitting opposite him would say, 'And
here sate the Apostle Bartholomew, grieving that he for-
sook so sweet a Master.' Again, in another cave, one
would say, ' Here is a seat whereon it may be Thomas sat
in doubt and sorrow.' From another cavern another pil-
grim would cry out, ' Lo, here in this darksome cave are
two places where I believe two Apostles, Simon and Judas,

534 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

sat together.' Thus they strove one with another in devout
jest, each one assigning a place to the Apostle whom he
loved best. In this same orchard we entered one curious
cave, exceeding like the Lord's sepulchre as it was in its
. original state. We said our prayers near these places, and
received indulgences (-f-).

THE HOLY FIELD OF ACELDAMA, WHICH WAS BOUGHT
WITH THE PRICE OF THE BLOOD OF THE LORD
JESUS CHRIST.

When we had viewed the hiding-places of the Apostles
we went further up Mount Aceldama, up a steep rocky
slope, a hard and stony path, in climbing up which some
tenderly nurtured and luxurious knights became impatient,
and murmured at the labour of our journey. We were,
indeed, scorched by a most blazingly hot sun ; natheless,
we went upwards, and came to the holy field of Aceldama.
About this field we are told in Matt. xxvi. that, before the
Passion, it was called the Potter's Field, because it was
owned by some potter. The Jews bought this field for
those thirty pieces (of silver) which they gave to Judas for
the Lord Jesus, that they might bury strangers therein,
whose bodies had aforetime been cast forth unburied.
Wherefore in this holy field we fell upon our faces, read
the appointed prayers, and received plenary indulgences
(-|"f"). When we had accomplished this, we sat down to
rest and to view the place ; and while we were sitting thus,
a young Saracen came up to us carrying a basket full of
grapes, some of which we bought, and so sat and ate them
there in the field, and enjoyed ourselves well.

THE POSITION OF TPIE FIELD ACELDAMA.

This field Aceldama lies on the slope of Mount Gihon,
opposite to Mount Sion, on the south side thereof. On

BROTHER FELIX FABRI.

the field itself stands a building with four walls, like a low,
square tower, covered by a vault resting on the side-walls.
This vault has nine round openings in its upper part,
through which the bodies of the dead are thrown. Now,
since it stands upon the slope of the mount, on the upper
side, where one [li] comes down the mount towards the
building, one can walk on to the vault without climbing.
The vaulted roof of this building measures fifty feet in
width and seventy-two in length ; from the openings down
to the ground at the bottom is twenty-six feet. There is
no way into this chamber save through these openings, and
no one can enter it through them unless he be let down
with ropes. It is a dwelling for the df^ad alone, and I
believe that since the hour when it was finished no living
man has entered this chamber, but he that hath once
entered it will never come forth again until the day of
judgment. I lay down upon my belly and put my head
inside, and saw therein five fresh human corpses among
dry bones. Above the vault there is now no building, but
grass grows thereon, and in some places covers over the
openings, so that they who walk thereon carelessly slip one
of their feet into them. That holy woman Helena built
a church upon this spot, which she caused to be dedicated
to All Saints, up to which the monks who dwelt in the
hiding-places of the Apostles were wont to go and celebrate
divine service. Afterwards, when those monks were gone,
brethren of the Order of Preaching Friars dwelt there, and
had a convent there, for at the time when Robert, King of
Sicily, as aforesaid, bought the Mount Sion and other places
for the Minorites from the Soldan for much gold, the preach-
ing friars called for the aid of pious men, and having col-
lected together some money, bought the field Aceldama,
that they might build a convent thereon, in the year of our
Lord 1350, in which year Ludolphus, the parish priest of

536 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

Suchem, was in the Holy Land, and wrote this in his book
of his pilgrimage. When they had received the place they
held it for a time, but were at length forced to forsake the
place owing to the attacks of the Moors and the robbery
which they suffered from the infidels. With regard to this,
the Minorite brethren are well provided for on Mount Sion,
having a quiet place within the city, well fortified with high
walls and iron doors, as hath been said on page 97 a. Yet,
notwithstanding these, they are exceeding often in great
perils from the constant attacks of the infidels, even in the
night-time. Were they not brave men, they would long
ago have forsaken the Mount Sion, because of their peril
from the assaults of those hounds. So it was not possible
for the preaching friars to remain in an unfortified place
without the city, notwithstanding their having bought it
from the Soldan, and having been admitted to it by him,
for the infidels care nothing for this. So when the brethren
were driven out of the place the Saracens cast down the
church and other buildings, uprooting their very founda-
tions, all save the sepulchral building, which is standing at
the present day.

After the preaching friars some Greclv monks, called
Caloyers, dwelt there, but were forced by the same neces-
sity to forsake the place, and that not many years ago, for
I found in the caves and hiding-places marks which proved
that a short time before men had dwelt therein. I very
often used to come down to this place from Mount Sion
and read my hours on the holy field, and I desired exceed-
ingly that, if it were possible, [163 rt] I might end my days
thee among the brethren and be buried there. Wherefore
I chose this place for my sepulchre, and begged the
brethren of Mount Sion, if I happened to die in Jerusalem,,
to bury me in no other place save in that holy field, and to
cast in my body through those holes. I can say of a truth

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. $37

that, other conditions being equal, I had rather have a
convent there than upon Mount Sion, for there the brethren
could plant gardens, vineyards, and fig-orchards, and the
place is pleasant, looking as it does towards Mount Sion
and the valley of Siloam, and it could get its water from
the fountain of Siloam, which is hard by. There is also a
view of the valley of Jehoshaphat, the Mount of Olives, etc.

Of this field they relate for a truth that the bodies of the
dead when placed in it are straightway reduced to dust
within three days and the dry bones alone left. So they
say of the holy field which is at Rome, beside the church
of St. Peter, to which earth was carried from hence over
the sea and strewn over that field. So likewise the people
of Pisa, when they bore rule in Syria, took earth from this
field, freighted ships therewith, carried it to Pisa, and made
a most costly burial-place therewith for the great men of
their land. In these three cemeteries bodies are dissolved
within three days, whereas in other cemeteries they are
hardly altogether consumed in eighteen years.

Now, as for the thirty pieces of money, I have read a
long rambling story which says that Terah, the father of
Abraham, struck them at the bidding of King Ninus, with
others of the same mintage ; and that Abraham received
them and brought them into this land, and that from him
they were handed down to Ishmael by inheritance, all
together, and that they never were divided from one
another. They were paid by the Ishmaclites to the
children of Jacob for their brother Joseph, v.liom they
sold to them, and the brethren carried them down into
Egypt to buy corn with. From Egypt they were carried
into Sheba, as the price of merchandise. The CJueen of
Sheba gave them to Solomon among other presents, and
he cast them into the treasury of the Lord's temple.
Nebuchadnezzar carried them off together with the other

533 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

treasures of the temple, and made a present of them to
Godolia (sic), by whom they were sent to the kingdom of
Nubia. When the Lord was born in Bethlehem, Melchior,
the King of Nubia, offered them to the Lord, and the
blessed Virgin and Joseph lost them in the desert when
they were fleeing with the child. A shepherd found them,
and kept them for thirty years. This shepherd, hearing
the fame of the miracles of the Lord Jesus^ came to Jeru-
salem sick; and, having received health from Him, offered
the thirty pieces to Jesus, Since He would not receive
them, he gave them to the priests of the temple, who set
them aside as corhan. When the Lord had been betrayed,
they handed them over to Judas, who, moved by remorse,
flung them down in the temple. The priests picked them
up, and bought this field for them, and thus they became
scattered separately throughout the world. I have seen
one of them in Rhodes, and Johannes Tucher, of Nurem-
berg, Ipl took a cast of it, had a leaden mould made, and
cast silver coins in its likeness, which he distributed among
his friends ; indeed, when we were all gathered together
in Nuremberg in the year 1485, to celebrate the meeting
of the chapter of the province, the aforesaid man gave one
of his pieces of silver to a certain brother of our order. It
is about as large as those of the coins called blaffardi} which
are marked with a cross ; on one side there is a human
face, on the other a lily. There once was an inscription,
but it cannot now be seen. So much for Mount Aceldama.

DESCRIPTION OF THE MOUNT GIHON, AND OF THE HOUSE

OF EVIL COUNSEL.
Leaving the field of Aceldama, we climbed up Mount
Gihon with great labour. On the top of it are the ruins of

1 Dlaffardus was a coin of base metal. See Ducange, s. v. For an
account of the legend of the thirty pieces of silver, see Quarterly
Review, October, 1846, Art. 'Cologne Cathedral.'

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 539

great walls, among which ruins are some Saracen dwelling-
houses. In the time of King David there was a strong
castle on that hill, which belonged to the king, and was
directly opposite to the house of David, which was on the
topmost point of Mount Sion, where nowadays stands the
convent of the brethren, and both there and elsewhere he
had courts of his house looking one towards the other, and
some of his household in each. Now, David, as we read in
I Kings i., ordered Solomon to be mounted on the king's
mule, and led to Gihon, whither the whole force of the
host followed him ; and they anointed him king over
Israel, and blew trumpets and cried aloud, ' Long live the
king !' Josephus tells us that when David heard this he
sank down again upon his couch, and worshipped God ;
for, indeed, the sound of one blowing a trumpet or shouting
on Gihon can be heard on Sion, But Adonijah, and Joab,
and the rest, who were feasting as they sat beside the
fount of Rogel, beside the stone of Zoheleth, intending
Adonijah to be king — these men heard the sound of the
trumpets on Gihon, and were sore afraid when they learned
the truth, and rose and went every man his way ; for they
were at the foot of Gihon, in a shady valley below the
valley of Jehoshaphat and the valley of Siloam, where
were gardens, even as there are at the present day, and
water, even as at the present day there is a fountain there ;
and a certain great stone, which young men used to lift to
prove their strength, which stone was called Zoheleth, and
there was a pleasant place wherein Adonijah had made
ready his feast. But when they heard the shouting in the
mount above them, ' Long live the king !' their council
was broken up, as aforesaid.

The house of Gihon in the time of Christ was the house
of the high priests and the other priests, and when they
wished to treat of anything especially secret, they passed

540 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

over to it, and it was the house of their secret councils.
Herein the chief priests and Pharisees assembled a council,
saying, ' What shall we do ? for this man . . .' as we read
in St. John's Gospel. So on this spot Christ's death was
decided upon. It is believed that it was in this house that
the Jews decided to fight against the Romans, Titus and
Vespasian, in consequence of which Jerusalem was de-
stroyed. It may be that the Apostles were scourged in
this house, as we read in Acts v., which scourging took
place in the presence of the consuls alone, because they
feared the people, as we are told in the same place. And
whenever any matter needed discussion, in which they
feared the people, they used to pass over to this house,
[164 a] that they might be apart from mankind, and never-
theless might be in a strong place. Wherefore this house
received the name of 'the house of evil counsel,' and this
name it has kept even unto this day. When we had seen
this house, we did not descend into the valley, but went
along the ridge of Mount Gihon to the road which leads to
Bethlehem., which we crossed in an easterly direction, went
round the valley which lies between the mounts Sion and.
Gihon, and came to the Fuller's Field, where Rabshakeh
stood and blasphemed the Lord God of Israel, as we read
in Isaiah xxxvi. It was called the Fuller's Field, because
the fullers used to dry their cloths therein. So we went
back into Jerusalem by the road of the Fuller's Field, and
the pilgrims who lodged in the hospital passed into the
city through the Fish Gate ; but we entered near the citadel
of David, and reached our own place, passing along the
ridge of the Mount Sion.

Here endeth the pilgrimage throughout the city of
Jerusalem.

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 541

HOW THE PILGRIMS SET OUT ON THEIR WAY TO
BETHLEHEM, THE CITY OF DAVID.

On the evening before the sixteenth of July our guides
came on horseback to Mount Sion, and our drivers with
their asses, to lead us to Bethlehem. So when we were
all provided with asses we went down from Mount Sion,
on the southern side, crossed the valley between the pools,
and climbed the Mount Gihon by the royal road, along
which went the three kings who were sent by Herod to
seek the Child born in Bethlehem. This is a very holy
and pleasant road from Jerusalem, along which we read
that the holy patriarchs, fathers, and prophets have
walked ; for instance, Abraham, when he came from
Chalda^a with his wife Sara ; Lot, with his wife when he
came from the parts beyond the mountains ; Jacob, and
all the holy men, David, Elias, and Isaiah, all of whom
we read walked along this way. So we ascended Mount
Gihon with joy, and on the top of it came among the dry
stone walls of delightful gardens, wherein grow divers sorts
of precious fruit-trees and vines and figs, for they of
Jerusalem have their gardens there. When we had passed
through the gardens we came to some old ruined walls,
where the inn is said to have stood, in which the three
kings lodged when they were on their way to Bethlehem
with their gifts. From hence we went on, and came to
a stony place, where they say that the blessed Virgin sat
down to recover her breath when pregnant, and we were
shown the place where she sat. So in this [d] place we
dismounted from our asses, and showed respect to the
place with feelings of wonder and delight — which, indeed,
we felt throughout the whole journey — while we also
pitied the tender and pregnant maiden for her long journey

542 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

from Nazareth to Bethlehem, which is more than ten
German miles.

<P t* ^P *f* !|C

(Here follows a dialogue between a pilgrim and St.
Joseph, in which the latter assures him that it was for his
sake that they rested here, not for the Virgin's, as she was
incapable of feeling fatigue.)

THE PLACE WHERE THE MAGI SAW THE STAR WHICH
THEY HAD SEEN IN THE EAST.

When this dialogue was finished we remounted our
asses, and went onward. When half-way we came to
three cisterns, which is the place where the star which
they had seen in the East appeared a second time to the
Magi, whereat they rejoiced exceedingly, as we read in
the second chapter of St. Matthew. These three cisterns
are said to [165 a] have been dug in the places where the
three kings stood looking at the star, which had dis-
appeared when they entered into Jerusalem. At this
place we rejoiced together with the three Magi, reading
and singing that which is appointed in the processional.

THE PLACE WHERE THE PROPHET ELIJAH WAS BORN.
Leaving this place, we came to a church of the Georgians,
which is said to stand on the spot where the prophet
Elijah was born. We entered it, and worshipped God,
and received indulgences for seven years (f), and honoured
the prophet Elijah. But here a doubt arises as to how
Elijah can have been born here, seeing that his surname
denotes that he was born at Thebes, since in i Kings xvii.
he is called the Thesbite. For there are three Thebes —
one in Syria, in the province of Galilee, wherein was the
high tower from which a woman flung a piece of a mill-
stone, and brake the skull of Abimelech, who was striving
to undermine the tower, who, when he felt that he was

BROTHER FELIX FADRI. 543

dying, bade them smite him with the sword, lest it should
be said that a woman slew him (Judges ix.). The second
Thebes is in Egypt, and from it a whole province is named
the Thebaid. This was once a great and rich city, as we
read in the legend of St. Maurice about the Theban legion.
Some say that this place is Cairo, or New Babylon, as
shall be told in its place. The third is in Greece. Elijah
the prophet came from the first, and obtained his name
from it. Howbeit, to save the truth of my story, it may
be said that possibly the same thing befell Elias, which
befell Christ our Lord, who was conceived at Nazareth,
and born at Bethlehem, and yet is called Jesus of
Nazareth, not of Bethlehem. So Elijah, who was con-
ceived in Thebes, and born in the hippodrome, yet is
called Elijah the Thesbite, not Hyppodrontes. I have,
however, read somewhere that once a farmhouse stood
here, which also was called Thebes. Worthy indeed is
the birthplace of so great a prophet to be reckoned among
the holy places, for he was born three thousand years
ago, and is not yet dead, but shall come before the Judge,
and restore all things, as we read in Malachi iv. and
Matthew xvii.

THE FIELD OF THE PROPHET HABAKKUK.

Leaving that place, we went on, and came to the field
of Habakkuk. Of this prophet we read in Daniel xiv.^
that he cooked a mess of pulse, and when he had cooked
was carrying it to this field to the reapers ; but the angel
of the Lord caught him by the top of his head, and bore
him away by the hair of his head, and by the power of
his breath set him down in Babylon, in the place of lions,
and he gave Daniel his dinner. Wherefore we stood still

^ See T. Wright's note to ' Sir John Maundeville,' in ' Early Travels
in Palestine' (Bohn's 'Antiquarian Library'), p. 149.

544 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS 07

for awhile in this field, and marvelled at the goodness of
Divine providence, which is wont to succour its servant
in wondrous wise. Wherefore saith Gregory on this
subject : ' Daniel, who took no thought about food and
drink, and who through his angelic truth lived by faith in
the den of lions, among the ravening mouths of monstrous
wild beasts, was not deserted by the Lord, but his dinner
was brought to him in a moment [/?] of time from Juda^i
to Babylon by the hands of a prophet at the Lord's
bidding/ By this example we most distinctly learn that
the servants of God who live here on earth accordinsf to
the precepts of the Gospel can never want, as saith the
prophet: 'I have been young, and now am old, yet never
.^aw I the righteous forsaken.' Again, 'God will not slay
the life of the just with hunger,' and * He shall give meat
unto them that fear Him.' So we nowhere read that God
allowed His elect to perish with hunger, for when martyrs
were imprisoned to the end that they might starve to
death, He sent angels to bring them, food from heaven, as
wc read in many places. He fed the prophets by means
of ravens, and miraculously refreshed those holy fathers
the hermits. Moreover, we read of our own sweetest
father, St. Dominic, that twice, when the brethren were
in need of bread, bread was sent to them by God through
the angels. And even if He doth not send corporeal and
visible bread, yet He sustains His elect by invisible power,
as we read in the ' Life of St. Catherine of Siena.' We
are permitted to behold this same thing at the present
day with our own eyes, for I know that a hermit named
Nicholas, who dwells in a mountainous solitude above the
Lake of Lucerne, has lived for the last twenty years
v.'ithout food or drink, which is wondrous to hear. I saw
this man in the year 1475.

h\ the aforesaid field of Habakkuk are found round white

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 545

pebbles, just like white peas.^ About these they who
showed us the field told us a childish story, which, never-
theless, I mean to recount, as I have other childish things.
They said that one day the Lord Jesus was passing
this way, and a countryman was sowing peas. The Lord
asked him what he was sowing. The husbandman replied
mockingly : * I am sowing stones.' The Lord said in
answer to this : ' Be it then even as thou sayest.' And
straightway all the peas were turned into stones, but kept
their former colour and shape. We gathered some of
these pebbles for our own amusement. When on that
spot I bethought me of a field near Gislingen, in which
countless pebbles of the same form are found, and the
children there are told the same story about them. Near
this field is a cistern, which a certain pilgrim guesses to
have been the cistern of Joseph, into which he was put
by his brethren (Genesis xxxvii.) ; but this does not agree
well with the Scriptures, which say that that cistern was
in the wilderness, and here there is no place named Sichem
or Dothaim. So we left the place more hurriedly than
we otherwise should have done, yet nevertheless we pitied
the blessed Joseph, and reflected on how great an evil
envy is, seeing that it cannot love anyone who prospers,
though he be his own brother. W^herefore Socrates well
says : * Good fortune is ever subject to envy ; misery
alone is unenvied.' As we went on beyond the field and
the cistern there is a high ancient wall, which projects
into the road, and there they say was the house of the
patriarch Jacob, wherein he dwelt for some time ; and
they say that this wall is part of the ruins of the

» 'The stones called " Elijah's melons," on Mount Carmel.and "the
Virgin Mary's peas," near Beihlehem, are instances of crystallization
well known in limestone formations, etc' — Stanley's ' Sinai and Pales-
tine,' chap, ii., sect. 4, and note.

35

546 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

patriarch's house. Howbeit, I once when passing this
way cHmbed up this wall, and discovered beyond doubt
that it was built to support the watercourse, along which
water once ran down into Jerusalem. Moreover, if this
was Jacob's house, what need was there for Rachel his
wife to bear her child on the road close to the house ?

THE SEPULCHRE OF RACHEL, WHICH THE PATRIARCH
JACOB BUILT FOR HER.

[i66 a] Proceeding farther, we came to a place which
Jerome in his book ' On the Distances of Places ' calls
Chabrata, where there is the sepulchre of Rachel, the wife
of Jacob, who, being here on the highroad, wishing to go
to Bethlehem with Jacob, travailed, and bore Benjamin,
and died through the hardness of her labour ; and here
stands the pillar of Rachel's grave to this day, as we read
in the thirty - seventh chapter of Genesis (Gen. xxxv.
19, 20). The Jews say that the reason why Jacob did not
take his dearly-beloved wife Rachel to Hebron, to the
sepulchre of his fathers, but buried her in the public way,
was that by the spirit of prophecy he was aware of what
should thereafter come to pass ; for after Nebuchadnezzar
had destroyed the city and burned the temple, and was
leading away the people of God captive into Persia along
this road, as he was passing by this sepulchre, Rachel, by
a Divine miracle, uplifted her voice from out of the
sepulchre, addressing the enemy and invoking the Divine
mercy, as we read in the thirty-first chapter of Jeremiah,
' In Rama was a voice heard/ etc. Howbeit, Catholic
doctors expound the weeping of Rachel as being for the
murder of the Innocents (Matthew i.). Rachel, according to
Jerome, is called the mother of the children of Bethlehem,
and of that country — albeit, they were the children of
Leah— because Rachel had her own tomb there, with a

BROTHER FELIX FABRT. 547

pillar solemnly set up over it. This pillar is a lofty-
pyramid, built of squared and polished white stone, and
shaped like the new chapel which stands in the midst of
the new cemetery of 'All Saints' at Ulm, save that the
sepulchre of Rachel is all built of stone, and has not a
particle of wood in it. Over against this tomb Jacob set
up twelve stones, according to the number of his twelve
sons. By the side of this chapel the Saracens have made
a trough to put drinking water in. We read of this
sepulchre in the first Book of Samuel, where we are told
that Samuel proved Saul to be king by the sign that
by Rachel's sepulchre he found two men leaping great
ditches. This place is venerated alike by Saracens, Jews,
and Christians. We said our prayers there, received
indulgences (f), and going on our way came to a place
which now is barren, but which once was delightful, for it
was there that Solomon planted one of his gardens. These
gardens are described on page 249, a, b. Here we saw
Bethlehem, and greeted it.

We stood on the site of the aforementioned garden, and
there we first beheld from afar, about half a German mile
away, Bethlehem, the city of David and of Christ ; the
church of the blessed Virgin, wherein is the place of the
Nativity, rose above everything else that we could see.
When we beheld this gracious city, we straightway dis-
mounted from our asses, and right joyfully saluted the city
with heartfelt prayers such as these : ' Hail, Ephrata !
thou most fertile region, whose fruit is God. Hail, Beth-
lehem ! the house of bread, wherein is hidden that bread
which fell from heaven. Of thee Micah once prophesied
that thou shouldst not be the least among the princes —
nay, the greatest — for from thee came forth He that shall
rule the world.^ In thee was born from a virgin mother

^ Matt. ii. 6 ; Micah v. 2.

35—2

548 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

that Prince who, before the time of Lucifer, was begotten
by God the Father ; in thee the seed of David abided
until the virgin bore a Child. O Bethlehem, I know not
with what praises I can extol thee, for thou didst contain
within a poor hovel Him whom the heavens could not
contain. Hail, Bethlehem ! that art made admirable both
to the East and to the West ; for as the wisdom of the
Magians once came to thee from the East, so now th
devotion of pilgrims cometh to thee from the West.'

When we had finished our greeting we remounted our
asses, and with great joy and swiftness hastened on our
way to Bethlehem. Some wept for joy and piety ; some,
in their mirth, sang [b] the well-known Christmas hymns :
Filer nattis in BctJdehem, wide gaiidet Jemsalem^ and
' Resonet in Imtdibns, cum jncnndis plausibus' and ' In
diilci Jiibilo nn sivgent wid sind fro^ etc. ; and we all sang
in chorus the angels' hymn, ' Gloria in excelsis Deo,' etc.
Our guides, the Moorish Saracen lords, though they v/ere
not affected by our mirth, yet listened in silence, and
seemed to me to be more cheerful than they were wont to
be. I never saw pilgrims so merry as on that road. I
myself have traversed it six times, and always with an
unspeakable feeling of joy. Now, between us and Beth-
lehem there lay a deep and great valley, separating us
from it ; howbeit, it was not needful for us to go down
into the valley, but we were fain to circle round the head
of the valley, and walk along the edge thereof as far as
Bethlehem on a high ridge of hills, on a spur of which the
blessed city stands aloft. In the very midst of the valley
we saw the place where the Saviour's birth was announced
to the shepherds. The legends of the Three Kings tell
us that when the three Magi with their hosts were cross-
ing the valley at this place that they might enter into
Bethlehem, the shepherds who then were in the valley

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 549

seeing the unwonted star, and the host which followed
them, hurriedly climbed up the hill to see who they might
be, and whither they were going. When they understood
that they were seeking the new-born Babe, they began to
tell them all that had befallen them on the night when
the Child was born, and how they had been taught by
a messenger from heaven that this Child should be the
Saviour of the world. When the Magi heard this they
rejoiced more abundantly, because they had found other
witnesses besides the star, and, opening their purses, gave
precious gifts to the poor shepherds for their good news.
We therefore halted in this place, and praised God for His
marvellous acts, and wished joy to those devout kings.
And so with much mirth we went on our way.

THE TROUBLES WHICH THE PILGRIMS SUFFERED AT
THE HANDS OF ARABS OR MIDIANITES BEFORE
THEY ENTERED INTO BETHLEHEM.

In this world no joy, not even spiritual joy, can be
unalloyed, and even if it seems pure and unmixed at the
time, yet straightway it becomes overcast by some
untoward event. This we proved to be true on this
journey, for we set out from Jerusalem with cheerfulness,
and the nearer we came to Bethlehem the more joyous
"we became, as hath been shown above ; howbeit, bv the
dispensation of God our mirth was cut short in a suffi-
ciently frightful fashion. As we drew near to the holy
city, lo ! a host of Arabs came towards us, coming forth
from Bethlehem, at whose aspect our guides were con-
founded and terrified, and we too were alarmed ; never-
theless, we pilgrims crowded together in one body, and
sent on our Saracen guides and the captains of our galleys
in front of us; [iGj a] and so, with our company tlius
disposed, we went on our way, full of fear, to m^ct the

550 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

robbers who were moving against us, for neither the place
nor the time admitted of running away, and had we done
.so we should have offered our backs to those plunderers.
When we came up to them, and our leaders would have
gone further on, the}-' withstood them, and took possession
of the road, so that no man could pass by ; and there we
stood for more than an hour, because our guides and the
captains vvere making terms with them, and they wrangled
much and noisily with them, yet no man did another any
manner of hurt : for Easterns do not proceed straightway
to personal violence unless they are driven to repel force
by force, and these Arabs were not unfriendly to us, but
were only extorting money from us, which they say is
their lawful right, as we shall often see hereafter. Had
we forcibly marched on against their will, they would,
indeed, have let us go, seeing that we were more in number
than they ; but they in the meanwhile would have called
together all their companions, and would have besieged
us in Bethlehem, and brought us into the direst straits ;
perhaps they would have been glad if we had burst through
them by force, as they would then have had greater cause
of complaint against us, and we could have done nothing
against them, although we were more in number, because
they vvere armed with spears, swords, and bows, while we
were unarmed, all save our guides, who did indeed carry
arms. After much talk it was settled that if we wanted
to enter Bethlehem we must pay twenty-four ducats ; if
not, we might return to Jerusalem. So we opened our
purses, and all paid money, each man his own share, and
went on our way, while our plunderers remained on the
spot, dividing the spoil amongst them. Now, when we
were a good way off them, there burst forth from the city
another host of Arabs, who were their accomplices, who
charged into the column of the pilgrims, and with much

BROTHER FELIX FABRL b5i

jeering and shouting passed through the midst of us,
dragging and pushing us about, throwing the pilgrims'
caps off their heads, and discomposing us much with their
rough jokes. In this disturbance the following adventure
befell me: As I was riding on my ass among the rest, an
Arab on a horse rode against me, wishing to make his way
in among us, as the rest of his comrades had done, and
in order that the pilgrims should make way for him to
pass through, and leave a road open to him, he couched
his spear, and pointed it straight in my face ; but because
of the press I was not able to make way for him, nor yet
to fall off my ass, which I would willingly have done,
wherefore I was forced with much terror and alarm to
await his shock as he rode at me. As he came he tore
my cap off my head with a strong blow of the sharp steel,
and passed me by with a laugh, I was glad because I
was unhurt, and sorrowfully dismounted from my ass to
look for my cap in the confusion ; howbeit, a certain
pilgrim had picked it up, and gave it to me. I was well
contented that the Arab knew so well the art of touching
things just as he pleased with the point of his spear, forbad
he held it pointed the thickness of one finger lower [I?], he
would have run it through my skull. These men were some
scoundrelly servants to those who had fined us, who were
going out with joy to meet their masters, rejoicing with them
at the money which they had received, and scoffmg at us.

THE ENTRANCE OF THE PILGRIMS INTO BETHLEHEM,
INTO THE CHURCH OF CHRIST'S NATIVITY.

When we were near the city of Bethlehem, about a bow-
shot from its gate, we came to a place where was the well
of David, which is called the well of David because, as
we read in 2 Samuel xxiii. 14, 15, David desired to drink
thereof when he was in an hold, and the well was set about

552 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

with the enemy, notwithstanding which three mighty men
of the host of David brake through the camp of the
Philistines, and drew water from the well of Bethlehem,
which is by the gate, and brought it to David, who wowld
not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the Lord. This
well is a large deep and wide grotto, having on its upper
side three mouths or openings apart from one another,
through which water is drawn from the pool, and it con-
tains plenty of clear, wholesome, cool water, some of which
we drew out and drank. Howbeit, the common people
and the dwellers in Bethlehem now look with disgust upon
this water, because a few days before our visit a Saracen
woman, trying to draw water, and doing so carelessly, fell
through the mouth of the well, and was drawn out dead.
From that well we came to the side of the blessed city of
Bethlehem, but did not enter it, passed along by the side
of it towards the east, through the ruins of many walls,
and entered the courtyard of the church of the blessed
Virgin, where we gave up our asi.es to their drivers,
entered the holy church, and, falling upon our faces,
received plenary indulgences (i* f). When we rose from
our prayers we were greatly astonished and filled with
admiration at the size and beauty of the church. Here
in the church we found the same traders who had been
with us in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, who offered
us candles for sale, and we bought candles of them, for
it was already dark within doors, and the sun was setting.

THE VISIT TO THE HOLY PLACES, AND FIRST TO THE
STUDY OF ST. JEROME, AND THE STORY OF HIS
SEPULCHRE.

The brethren arranged our procession in the manner
described on pages 94 d and no d, for we brought out all
our ornaments and furniture with us on the back of an

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 553

ass from Sion to Bethlehem ; and when every man was
standing in his place, all alike bearing lighted candles in
their hands, the precentor began the hymn of a confessor,
' Iste confessor Domini,' etc. Singing this hymn, we went
out of the church into the cloister, to the left side thereof,
and, passing through a door in the cloister, went [168 a\
down nineteen steps into a fair vaulted chapel. In this
chamber was the study of St. Jerome, wherein he under-
went many hard labours. Here he translated the entire
Bible from Hebrew and Chaldee into Latin, both into the
classical and the vernacular tongue, as he himself bears
witness in his epistle to Sophronius about a new edition,
and in his epistle about Hebrew questions ; here also he
wrote his prologues, epistles, glosses, and commentaries.
Here he corrected, divided, and arranged the Psalter as
it is used at this day by the Roman Church ; he dictated
the versicle ' Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,' etc. ;
he joined many disciples to himself, whom he taught ; he
ever preserved his virginity ; he made a savage lion tame
and gentle ; and he carried on an endless warfare against
heretics, vicious clerks, and wicked monks. He was
alwavs at work, and in this cell he so wearied himself that
when lying on his bed he was forced to drag himself up,
holding by his hands to a rope which hung from a beam
above him, and so perform the duties of a monastery as
best he could. He toiled at these labours for fifty-five
years and six months. In this place we prayed, and
received plenary indulgences (f f) with thanksgiving.

THE SEPULCHRE OF ST. JEROME, WHICH IS NOW EMPTY.

There is another chapel adjoining this one, not far from
the Lord's manger, where he chose his burial-place, as
we are told in the epistle of Eusebius. Here St. Jerome,
while still alive, ordered his sepulchre to be made, wherein

554 T^HE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

after the death of that glorious Father of the Church was
laid his body, splendid by reason of the signal miracles
which it had wrought. This sepulchre is entire at the
present day, but is empty, and is decorated with slabs of
marble. His body was translated from Bethlehem to
Constantinople, and from thence to Rome, where at the
present day it rests in a costly tomb in the church of
S. Maria Maggiore, So after we had said our prayers in
this place we received (f) indulgences. We read in his
letter to St. Cyril of Jerusalem that, out of devotion to
St. Jerome, St. Augustine crossed the sea that he might
behold this place. The body could not be taken out of
the grave, for when it was taken out it was found in the
grave again on the morrow, until Jerusalem was conquered
by the infidels ; then it permitted itself to be translated
to Rome, as we read in the last epistle of St. Cyril.

THE SEPULCHRE OF ST. EUSEBIUS, THE DISCIPLE OF

ST. JEROME.
Adjoining this is another crypt, wherein is buried St
Eusebius, the disciple of the blessed Jerome. This
Eusebius, who was a native of Cremona, and was styled
the disciple of St. Jerome, was a man of great eloquence,
and who, amongst other works, wrote an account of the
life, miracles, and death of his teacher in an elegant
narrative addressed to Damasus, the Bishop of Oporto,^
and to that singular Christian Roman senator, Theo-
dosius. The great humility of this man is shown by his
epistle written to the aforesaid bishop. We therefore
prostrated ourselves before the tomb of this saint, begging
for his protection, and received indulgences (f). He was
warned of the approach of his own death by St. Jerome
in a vision, and gave orders that he should be buried near
» Afterwards Pope Formosus.

BROTHER FELIX FADRI. 555

St. Jerome. At the time when he died there died also
three others, who had been raised from the dead by St.
Jerome. Hence is derived a proof of the destruction of
a certain heresy, as we read in the epistle of St, Cyril, the
Bishop of Jerusalem, to St. Augustine, wherein much is
said in praise of St. Eusebius.

THE PLACE OF THE CIRCUMCISION OF THE LORD,
WHEREIN IT IS SAID THAT HE WAS CIRCUMCISED
ON THE EIGHTH DAY, AND NAMED JESUS.

After this we went up again out of the crypt, re-entered
the church, crossed through the midst of it, going to the
right-hand side from the side opposite thereto. We
ascended into a chapel which adjoins that same side of
the choir, and there before the altar we brought out our
hymns and antiphons for the Lord's circumcision, and
' Sa/ve Regina' the hymn to the blessed Virgin, and we
bowed ourselves down, and kissed the place beneath the
altar, and [^] received plenary indulgences (ff). It was
in this holy place that the Lord Jesus was circumcised on
the eighth day, for He could not have been circumcised in
the cave wherein He was born, and in which the Virgin lay
after childbirth, because of the darkness, and it may be
that the circumcisers disliked the smell of the stable ; so
they carried out the boy Jesus, and circumcised Him here.
The holiness of this place is proved by the sweet smell
which is shed abroad from it, for while a man stoops down
to kiss the place, an unusual odour is breathed out towards
him, which delights him and inclines him to worship.
This place is of immeasurable holiness, seeing that here
first were the fountains of the great deep burst open, and
cleansing came upon the whole earth, not of water to
drown it, but of blood to make it alive ; for as in Noah's
flood all upon whom the waters came perished, even so all

556 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

upon whom came the flood of Christ's blood were given
life. In this place we pilgrims boasted that we had now
been at all the places, and had kissed all the places, wherein
we read that the Lord Jesus shed His most precious blood
— that is to say, I., here in the circumcision, where first the
fountains of the great deep — that is to say, Christ's veins
— were burst open, II. In the place of Christ's agony on
the Mount of Olives, page 184 d. Ill, At the place of
scourging and crowning with thorns, page 138, IV. At
the place where He fell while bearing the cross, page 123.
V. At the place of the crucifixion, page 116. VI, At the
place where His side was pierced. Moreover, this place
is venerable because of the sweetest name of Jesus, because
here first it was given to save the world, because there
is no other name upon earth by which we may be saved
but only the name of Jesus, Here was the ointment
poured forth, whereof the bride speaks in Solomon's Song
(i. 3), 'Thy name is as ointment poured forth.'

THE PLACE WHERE THE MAGI MADE THEMSELVES READY
WITH VESTMENTS AND GIFTS.

When we had finished offering our praises in the place
of the circumcision, the precentor began the hymn * Hostis
Herodes impie,' singing which we circled round to the left-
hand side of the church, and again went up to the side
of the choir into a chapel adjoining the choir, which chapel
stands on the place where the Magi dismounted from their
camels and dromedaries, before the inn above which the
star stood. Here they brought out their gifts from their
scrips, and arranged them ready to be offered, and decked
themselves out with most precious robes, that they might
appear in splendid and courtly wise before the new-born
King. So in this place we kneeled and received in-
dulgences (-J-). At the side of this place stands a well,

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 557

whence the servants of the Magi drew water for their
beasts, and we likewise went to it and looked down into
it. So here, in the company of the holy kings, we made
ready to enter the inn with joy and due devotion.

THE GROTTO OF THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD JESUS
CHRIST, THE ENTRANCE OF THE RILGRIMS THERE-
UNTO, AND THE HOLINESS OF THE PLACE.

Rejoice now, O pilgrim, and be joyful, dearly beloved
brother, for straightway thou shalt behold the most holy
and sweetest of places, which is worshipped and adored
alike by the faithful and by infidels. I say unto you that
many kings and prophets — nay, many popes, bishops and
cardinals, emperors, dukes and noblemen, priests and
laymen — have wished and yearned to see what you see,
and have not seen it. Now, when we were standing beside
the altar and well aforesaid, the precentor began to sing
the merry Christmas hymn, ' Christe, rcdeviptor onmiuni,
ex patre patris unice', etc. We sang this hymn to the
same tune to which it is sung in our order, but wherever
the word ' day ' occurs in the hymn we sang ' place.' Where
in the hymn come the words ' This present day doth witness
bear,' we sang ' This present place doth witness bear ' ; and
where in the hymn the words are ' For this Thy natal day '
we said ' For this Thy natal place,' and so on. So singing
this song, we left the aforesaid place, turned towards the
wall of the choir, passed through a doorway adorned with
polished marble of the purest whiteness, and descended
by sixteen steps beneath the choir into a crypt which was
of itself dark, but which was lighted by many lamps,
above which lay the stone beneath which the Saviour of
the world, Jesus Christ, was born. When we had finished
the proper praises appointed in the processional we went
up one after another to the altar at the head of the grotto,

558 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

bowed our faces to the earth, and kissed beneath the altar
the place of the most sweet nativity of Christ, in which
place there lies a white marble slab, cunningly wrought
into the figure of a sun, because here the Sun of righteous-
ness arose, here the immaculate Virgin Mary shed abroad
eternal light, and here, through the mystery of the Incarnate
Word, the new light of her glory shone upon the eyes of
our mind. So we most devoutly, and with tears of joy,
bowed ourselves to the earth before that stone and
worshipped it — that stone whereon we are told that the
wondrous Boy lay after He had come forth from the Virgin's
womb. Indeed, this is proved to be so by a clear sign —
the wondrous and delightful odour which he who imprints
his kisses on the stone perceives. The sweet odour which
breathes forth from that place upon our senses is something
Divine and above everything else. One sees the place to
be quite void of any matter which could produce scent,
and yet the place smells as though it were a storehouse
of perfume, save that its intensity is greater than that of
the strongest pigment. Nor do I say this with reference
to its mystical meaning, but in plain fact I declare that I
perceived it every time that I bowed myself down to kiss
the holy stone ; neither is this perception confined to any
particular person, but this grace is bestowed upon all who
kiss the place, even to the unhappy Saracens themselves,
so that they may know for certain that Mahomet lied when
he said in his abominable Alcoran that the holy nativity
came to pass in a lonely spot, in a garden, beneath a palm
tree, as we are told by Master Nicholas of Cusa in his
translation of the Alcoran, Book III., ch. xvii. Not only
these places, but all the places wherein we read that the
Lord Jesus appeared naked, enjoy this privilege of exhaling
a sweet odour. Nor need anyone wonder at this, since
we read that the same thing takes place from the tombs

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 559

and sepulchres of the saints. So we, being attracted by
that sweet odour, remained for a long time kissing the
sacred stone, and received plenary indulgences ("ff).-'-

*^0 a^^ «^ ^^ ^^0

r^ r^ *J» *^ ^^

THE lord's manger : WHAT IT IS, AND WHAT IT

WAS.

After we had shown respect to the place of the Lord's
nativity, we turned ourselves towards the manger, which
is about seven paces distant from the aforesaid place.
When we came to this manger we most devoutly bowed
ourselves into it, and kissed it, received plenary indul-
gences (i* -f), and were refreshed by an odour like that
already mentioned. Nor is this to be wondered at, since
the flower of balsam was placed in this manger, for the
most blessed Virgin Mary wrapped the Child in swaddling
clothes, and laid Him in the manger, because there was no
room in the inn, and there the shepherds, guided by the
angel, found the Child. This manger stands beneath an
overhanging stone, wherein earlier pilgrims say that they
saw iron rings and bolts, to which beasts were tied. When
Christ lay there, there stood tied up an ox and an ass, who
knew and worshipped their Lord, as we read in the first
chapter of Isaiah. In old times also there used to be
shown the stone which the Virgin mother put beneath the
head of her little one, because she had no pillow or any-
thing of that sort ; but she covered the stone with hay.
Wherefore the Church sings, ' He endured to lie in the
hay ; He did not abhor the manger,' etc. Now, the manger
of the Lord was of stone, cut out of the same rock which
overhung it, as are the mangers in that country to this
day. I do not understand what is commonly reported,

^ Here follows a sort of sermon.

56o THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

that St. Helena took away a wooden manger from this
place, put a marble one in its place, and translated the
true manger to Constantinople, whence it is said to
have been translated to the Lateran Church at Rome ;
unless we should say that Joseph perhaps may have made
a manger of wood, and placed it upon the manger of stone.
One must say in that case, as many do, that Joseph
brought the ox and the ass to that place with him from
Nazareth. Now, the manger which is now in that place
is marble, made of white and very highly-polished slabs,
which cover the true place of the Lord's manger, and it is
decorated with an intricate pattern — a thing deplored by
Chrysostom, who says : ' Oh that I might be permitted to
behold the manger wherein the Lord lay ! Nowadays we
Christians, as it were, to show our respect, have taken
away clay, and set up silver ; but to me what was cast
away was more precious, for silver and gold is admired by
the Gentiles, but Christian faith and piety admires that
manger of clay, because He who was born in that manger
despises silver and gold. I do not blame those who [i/i a]
did this to show Him honour, neither do I blame those
■who made gold and silver vessels for use in the Temple ;
but I admire God, the Creator of the world, who was born
not amid gold and silver, but in clay.'

Thus far Chrysostom. Indeed, the mangers in that
country are either made of stone or of clay, not of planks
or trunks of trees. This modern manger is four palms in
length, and a little less than three in width. The slab of
polished marble which stands opposite to one who kneels
before the manger is very curiously polished, like a mirror,
and there results from this the following remarkable
circumstance, that if carefully and minutely looked at
there appears in it the figure of an old bearded man, lying
on his back on a mat, in the dress of a dead monk, and

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 561

beside him the figure of a lion. This picture is not

produced by art or work, but by simple polishing alone,

without any design on the part of the polisher; even as

we often see when tables made of knotty wood are

planed, sometimes after they have been smoothed and

polished various figures appear in them which come there

without any design on the part of the workman ; so it has

happened here. They say, however, that this figure was

made by the divine ordinance because of the transcendent

sanctity of the glorious St. Jerome. This figure is not

seen by all, but only by those to whom it is pointed out, and

who know of it ; he who knows not of it would never be

able to see it. So when I was first shown it, I thought

that the friar who was showing it to me was joking when

he said that he saw the image of St, Jerome in the stone,

nor could I see it by myself, until the friar with his finger

pointed out to me the outline on the stone, and then I

distinctly saw it, just as though it had been delicately

painted. In the epistle of Cyril to Augustine about the

miracles wrought by St. Jerome we read that in ancient

times there was a carved image of St. Jerome in the church

on Mount Sion, which was famous for the signal miracles

which it wrought.

THE PLACE WHERE THE BLESSED VIRGIN SAT WITH
THE CHILD WHEN THE THREE MAGI CAME WITH
THEIR PRESENTS.

After we had seen the holy manger we turned away
from it to the altar which stands before it at a distance
of two or three paces, where is the place in which the
'blessed Virgin Mary sat with the Boy Jesus on her lap,
when the three kings came in with their gifts, and offered
them to her. In this place likewise we fell upon our faces,
as did the three kings, and offered ourselves to the Lord

36

562 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

Christ, and received indulgences, singing the hymn of the
three kings, and the proper prayers (-|-). We learn from
the second chapter of St. Matthew with what reverence
and piety these three kings offered their gifts. Nor should
we believe that these gifts, besides their mystical meaning,
were small in themselves. The book tells us that the
first of them, Melchior, King of the Arabs, offered coined
gold, and a small golden cloth, which could be enclosed
in the hand, which cloth Alexander the Great had had
made out of all kinds of gold taken from all the countries
under his dominion, and enclosed it in his hand in token
of empire, and which after his time came into the kingdom
of Arabia. Now, when Melchior placed that cloth in the
Child's hand, it straightway [d] was turned into ashes, to
prove that Christ's Kingdom was not of this corruptible
world (John xviii. 36). It is also said that this king
presented to Christ the thirty pieces of silver, for which
he was afterwards betrayed, as is explained on page 163 «.
The second, Balthasar, King of Saba, brought abundance
of frankincense ; and the third, Caspar, King of the
/Ethiopians, brought precious myrrh. Some, however, say-
that each of them presented all these three things.

THE WELL INTO WHICH THE STAR OF THE MAGI FELL
AFTER ITS TASK WAS DONE.

After we had accomplished our offering in the place of
the offering of gifts, we went down the crypt to its end,
and in the corner on the left-hand side of the crypt we
came upon a small hole, beneath which is a deep well ;
howbeit, water cannot be drawn forth from thence, because
of the buildings above it. In the time of Christ it was an
open well, and into it is said to have fallen the star by
whose guidance the Magi were brought from the East,
and there it is said to have been resolved into its original

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 563

substance. This is the opinion of many doctors of the
Catholic Faith, and for a memorial of it this hole has
been left. St. Gregory, Bishop of Tours, in his book of
miracles, written in the time of the blessed Pope Gregory,
says : • There is in Bethlehem a great pool, whence the
glorious Virgin Mary is said to have drawn water, wherein
to those who often look upon it a miracle is shown, to wit,
that star which appeared to the three Magi ; for the devout
come and lie on the edge of this pool, and cover their
heads with linen clothes, and then he whose merits have
gained him the privilege sees the star pass across the pool
on the surface of the water from one side to the other, in
the same manner wherein stars are wont to cross the vault
of heaven. And, though many look into the pool, yet
only those of sound mind see the star. I have heard
several persons assert that they have seen it, and of late
Dyacimus . . . declares that he saw it five several times,
but that it was only seen by two persons.'

THE SECOND GROTTO OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN, AND
WHAT IS CALLED HER MILK.

Not far from the opening of the well is a doorway,
through which we passed into another grotto, which is
venerable through having been dwelt in by the Virgin
INIary. The legends tell us that on the report of the
shepherds and the arrival of the three kings many came
from Jerusalem, entered into the (larger) grotto, and
worshipped the Child and Mary His mother. When Mary
perceived this, fearing Herod, she fled away secretly out
of the outer grotto, entered the inner one, and dwelt there.
However, in her haste she left behind her in the outer
grotto, lying in the manger, a long shift, wherein according
to the custom of that country she had been delivered.
She likewise left behind her the swaddling clothes in which

q6— 2

g64 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

the Child was first wrapped, and the stone which she had
put under His head, and the hay upon which He lay. All
these things remained in the manger, and were by Divine
Providence preserved entire and uncorrupted until the
time of St. Helena, who found them, as will be shown on
page 1/8 a.

Now in this second cave, into which she fled for refuge,
there was a prominent stone or rock, whereon the blessed
Mary was wont to sit to suckle the babe. It chanced one
day that a drop of milk from the Virgin's breast fell upon
this stone, and from that time to this drops of liquid have
continued to ooze forth from that stone. This liquid is of
a milky colour, mixed with a redness as of some drug,
and its dripping cannot be checked. Pilgrims place small
flasks beneath it, catch the drops as they fall, and take
them to parts beyond the sea, saying that this is the milk
of the blessed Virgin. This is how it comes to pass that
in many churches the blessed Virgin's milk is shown
among the relics, as for instance in Cologne at the altar
in the Capitol,^ and in Kyrchen, a convent of nuns of [172 d]
the Dominican Order, and in various other places throughout
Italy, France, and Germany. Often before I learned the
truth I wondered whence that milk could have come,
or who could have collected it and preserved it, until I
learned by experience that it is nothing more than moisture
which drops from a rock. I saw this rock in my first
pilgrimage, but in my second beams and trunks of trees
had been brought into the grotto, and an alteration made
in the place.

Far be it from me to take away by these words any of
the honour, praise, and reverence due to the blessed Virgin
Mary ; for it is possible that the milk may have been
preserved elsewhere, or miraculously given to someone, or

* Sta. Maria in Capitolio

BROTHER FELIX FADRI. 505

that the rock upon which the drop of milk is said to have
fallen may from that drop of heavenly milk have received
the power of perpetually dropping milk. For if oil continu-
ally oozes forth from the tomb of St. Nicholas and from
that of St. Waldburgis in Cistania/ that thereby the Lord
may show the peculiar virtue of His saints, what wonder
if this rock should drip with milk, that thereby He may
prove the dignity and transcendent virtue of His mother?
* * * * ' *

THE CAVE WHEREIN THE BODIES OF THE HOLY IN-
NOCENTS ARE BURIED.

Beside the aforc-mentioned cave is another cave into
which we could not enter without beading our backs.
When one is within one finds a tolerably large place at
the side of the other cave on the left hand. Into this cave
were cast many thousand bodies of the Holy Innocents
whom Herod slaughtered, seeking Christ among them.
So here we said our prayers and received indulgences (f ).
Some of the pilgrims when in this cave searched among
the dust on the ground by the light of their candles for
some relics of the Holy Innocents, but they found none
at all [d], seeing that the faithful have long ago carried
them away, and the relics of these innocent children are
now scattered throughout the churches of the world. At
Venice, in the island of Murano, there are nearly a hundred
bodies of the Innocents in one tomb. At the Dominican
convent at Nuremberg I have seen one entire body of one
of the Innocents. At the Dominican convent at Strasburs-
they also have one of their bodies entire. At Basle at
the Dominican convent they have one hand and several
joints of them in a precious monstrance. At the Dominican
convent at Ulm they have a tiny shirt stained with blood

^ ? Kitzinsren.

566 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

and pierced with sword strokes, which belonged to one
of the little Innocents. Noblemen who go to Jerusalem
take a special interest in the relics of the Holy Innocents,
I know not for what reason. There was in our company
an exceeding rich nobleman, who turned over the dust of
that cave seeking for relics, and finding none, went to
Sabothytaneo, the elder Calinus, the Saracen protector of
the pilgrims, and through an interpreter promised that he
would give him a hundred ducats if he would procure an
entire body for him. Calinus told him in reply that the
bodies of these children had been removed to Cairo, where
the Lord Soldan had them in his own keeping, and sold
them to whom he chose, and that there was no man in
the whole kingdom save him alone who was permitted to
sell the bodies of these children. When the knight heard
this he meditated going to St. Catherine's with the rest,
that he might buy a child when he came to Cairo. Now
this bargain struck me as being insulting, tricky, and
unjust, wherefore I betook me to a man of knowledge and
inquired of him about this matter, what one was to think
about these bodies of children which were sold by the
Soldan. I was assured by him that it is a fact that
Saracens and Mamelukes receive the bodies of still-born
children, or of children who have died soon after their
birth, slash them with knives, making wounds, then
embalm the bodies by pressing balsam, myrrh, and other
preservative drugs into the wounds, and sell them to
Christian kings, princes, and wealthy people as bodies of
the Holy Innocents. So they pay great sums of gold and
silver, and believe that they receive the bodies of holy
children, whereas they receive the bodies of damned
children. Thus are Christ's faithful people mocked and
robbed of their money, for these infidels know our ardent
desire for the possession of relics, and thcicfore set out

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 567

for sale wood said to be part of the Holy Cross, and nails,
and thorns, and bones, and many other things of the same
kind, to delude the unwary and cheat them out of their
money. I do not set much value upon new relics brought
from parts beyond the sea, especially those which have
been purchased from Saracens or from Eastern Christians
falsely so called. It is not so with holy pebbles from the
holy places, etc. So we came forth from the cave of the
Holy Innocents, and went no further.

Leading from that cave there is a narrow passage cut
through the rock, which the Minorite brethren made by
stealth, so that they might go into and out of the place
of Christ's nativity from the chapel of St. Nicholas, [173 a]
where they hold their services. Wherefore they take every
means of hiding that passage even from pilgrims, lest it
should come to the knowledge of the Saracens and Eastern
Christians, because they would straightway block up the
passage, and the brethren would lose their holy place. I
myself, by the gift of God and the kindness of the Minorite
brethren to me, have sometimes been admitted through
that secret passage into the most holy place of Christ's
nativity, when I have been spending the whole night alone
there, after all the doors of the church and grottoes were
closed.

So we came out of the cave of the Holy Innocents by
the same passage by which we entered it into the cave or
crypt of Christ's nativity, where we prostrated ourselves a
second time, and kissed the holy places— the place of the
nativity, the manger, and the place where the Virgin sat
when she received the offerings of the three kings. While
we were standing amid these holy places there came into
my mind the rapturous vision beheld by the most blessed
Paula the pilgrim in this place; for she declared in the
hearing of St. Jerome that she saw the babe wrapped ia

568 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

swaddling clothes, wailing in the manger, the shepherds
coming and praising God, the Magi wo: shipping, and the
star shining above. Moreover, she beheld the Virgin with
both her eyes continually suckling the child, and all the
other mysteries of the nativity. Wherefore upon this spot
she was induced to bind herself to the perpetual service
of God, as we are told by St. Jerome in his ' Pilgrimage of
St. Paula.'

When we had finished our prayers we came up out of
the cave and brought our procession to an end. We now
went into the cloister and separated into our various
companies, brought out of our scrips the food which we
had brought with us from Jerusalem, and ate it and drank
water. The water of the wells of Bethlehem is cooler,
clearer, wholesomer, and sweeter than any that I have seen
in parts beyond sea. We had plenty of this water for
nothing. Indeed, any amount of toil seems bearable to a
pilgrim so long as he has fresh water ; they care nothing
for cooked victuals, or wine, or beds, or anything but cold
and pure water. So after we had eaten and drunk some
folded their limbs for sleep on the place where they had
eaten, but the greater part, scorning rest, re-entered the
church and kept holy vigil beside the manger of the Lord^
employing themselves with unceasing prayer.

THE CELEBRATION OF DIVINE SERVICE AT BETHLEHEM,

AND HIGH MASS.

At midnight the sacristan ran round the cloister with
a board (nola), and roused the sleepers for morning service,
which the brethren read in the grotto of the nativity, after
which we began the solemn service * Doniimis dixit ad
nic' etc., which is chanted throughout the world on the
night before Christmas Day. The Father Warden and
his attendant clergy, all dressed in their holy vestments.

BROTHER FELIX FA BR I. 569

went in procession to the altar above the place where
Christ was born, and so we chanted the service in the
grotto. After the service some devout laymen received
the Holy Sacrament. The priests celebrated service
at the altar of the circumcision, and [d] in the chapel of
the three kings, in the upper church, and below at the
altar of the Lord's nativity. So we continued to perform
divine service until it was bright day.

THE PLACE WHERE JOSEPH LOST HIS WAY WITH MARY

AND THE CHILD.

After we had finished our masses we straightway
mounted our asses, and went down from Bethlehem into
the valley that we might visit the Church of ' Gloria in
Excelsis,' where the shepherds were watching at the hour
of the Lord's birth. On the way down we came upon a
desecrated and half-ruined chapel, which was placed there
in memory of what took place on that spot ; for it is said
that when Joseph was warned in a dream by the bidding
of an aneel to flee with the Child and his mother into
Egypt, as we read in Matthew ii., he arose, and made haste
to flee out of Bethlehem, and went down at this place into
the valley, wishing to go down the valley to Sodom, and
thence up again across the Jordan, and so set out by the
road by which the children of Israel came into the land,
for he did not know that there was a shorter way to
Egypt, because he had never before seen Egypt. But
when he reached the spot where this chapel stands, an
angel met him, and pointed out to him the way to Hebron,
and from Hebron to Gaza, and so along the shore of the
Mediterranean Sea to Egypt. So at this place we said
our prayers, and received indulgences (-f). When we had
received our indulgences, and had gone down but a short
way from this place, we came to some ruined walls on a

5;o THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

hill, and here also we learned that a chapel once stood,
built in memory of the following event : When the angel
had departed from the shepherds, and they were on their
way up to Bethlehem to see the Child that had been born,
while they went up they began to waver, for deep anguish
came upon their hearts, and their spirits were tortured by
strange doubts as to whether the vision which they had
beheld might not be a snare and a delusion, and thus they
might be running into some danger. Now, while they
were standing in this place conferring one with another on
these matters, and praying to the Lord, lo ! the angel of
the Lord appeared among them, and assured them of
the truth of the matter. They fell on their knees with
thanksgiving, and then climbed up the path at a faster
pace. So here likewise we gave thanks, and received
indulgences (f f), and went on our way.

THE CHURCH OF ' GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST,' AT
THE PLACE WHERE THE SHEPHERDS WERE WATCH-
ING.

From hence we went down hill, through olive-yards,
and came into a wide valley full of ploughed fields and
meadows. In the midst of this valley we saw great ruined
walls, and the remnants of ancient buildings, towards
which we turned ourselves. When we came to the place,
we found a church, ruined and cast down, yet with its
front part still remaining. Now, the precentor began in
a loud voice the angels' hymn, ' G/on'a in excehis Deo,
etc., and we went on ' Et in terra pax' etc., with great
solemnity. Singing thus, we entered the ruins, and, still
going on our way, went down into the choir, wherein a
desecrated altar still stands. Here we sang with ereat
zeal ' Glo7'ia in excehis Deo' and the antiphons (174 a)
' Quc7n vidistis, pastores' etc., and ' Angelus ad pastores

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 571

ail,^ etc. After singing, we prayed in silence, and received
indulgences (-f-). This church stands on the spot where
the shepherds were together at the hour of Christ's nativity,
and here the angel of the Lord appeared, and stood
beside them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about
them, and he said : ' I bring you good tidings of great
joy,' etc., as we read in the second chapter of St. Luke's
Gospel. In this church also is the burial-place of these
shepherds ; for when they were dying they would not be
buried anywhere save in the place of the joyous appear-
ance of the angel, where they had heard a multitude of
the heavenly host singing * Glory to God in the highest.'
St. Helena built the church on this spot, and beside it
a convent of nuns/ whereof even at the present day there
may be seen among the ruins a wheel and a parloir, such
as nuns are wont to have. This was called the convent of
' Gloria in excelsis.' It was a fairly large one in extent,
as may be seen at this day, and its enclosing walls were
built of squared hewn stone, as may be seen in the heaps
of stones which lie there, which stones the Saracens are
by no means able to carry away, for it is said that of a
truth, when they try to carry away any of these stones,
they become so heavy that they cannot by any means be
moved, either by beasts of burden, or by the help of man.
So on the slope of the mount there lie several stones which
they have carried for some way, but have at last been
overpowered by their weight, and have left them in the
road. Wherefore let no one doubt that, could they be
moved, they would have been carried away a hundred
years ago. This place was first hallowed in days of old

^ Bernard the Wise, who visited Palestine a.d. S67, says, 'One mile
from Bethlehem is the monastery of the Holy Shepherd?, to whom
the angel appeared at our Lord's nativity' (Wright's ' liariy Travels in
Palestine,' in Bohn's 'Antiquarian Library,' p. 29).

572 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

Ly the holy men who dwelt there ; for here Jacob the
patriarch dwelt, because we are told in Genesis xxxv.
that, after he had buried his wife Rachel in the way (to
l^phrath, which is Bethlehem), as has been told on page
166 a, he journeyed thence, and spread his tent beyond
the tower of Edar — that is, of the flock. With regard to
rhis passage, Jerome tells us that this place is near Beth-
lehem, in the place where the heavenly flock sang ' Glory
to God in the highest,' as the writer of the Spccnhim
Historiale tells us about this place. In this place Reuben,
Jacob's first-born, lay with Bala, his father's wife, and
defiled his bed ; wherefore he earned his father's curse.

This field is the field of Boaz, wherein Ruth, the
Moabitess, when she was gleaning after the reapers, who
would have driven her away, by her virtue turned the
heart of the lord of the field toward her, and married
him, and in this field she was thought worthy to become
a mother in the genealogy of Christ, as may be read in
the whole book of Ruth, and in the first chapter of St.
Matthew's Gospel. In the fields of this country David
pastured his father's sheep, and here he tore in pieces a
lion which came against him, and slew a bear. David
boasted in the presence of King Saul about his victory
over these beasts, and gained courage to attack even the
giant Goliath, the Philistine, as we read in i Samuel xvii.
We may suppose that he slew many lions and bears in this
place, because the son of Sirach saith, ch. xlvii., ' He played
with lions as with kids, and with bears as with lambs.'

This valley reaches to the eastward as far as Sodom
and the Dead Sea, near which, because of the waters of
Jordan, many wild beasts of various kinds roam about,
and come up by night along the valleys to prey upon the
folds of the flocks, and carry off domestic animals if they
are able. So David met these beasts as they came up.

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 573

and slew thcni. So on the night and at the hour of the
nativity the shepherds were in this valley keeping watch
over their flocks by night. With regard to this the
question has been asked : ' How could the shepherds keep
their watch by night when it was winter time, and the
earth was bound hard with frost, and covered with snow ?'
To this the Easterns answer that these shepherds watch
their flocks twice in the year — that is to say, in the spring,
and in the winter-time, for in Eastern parts the summer
and winter do not generally alter the whole country as
they do in Western parts. Very cold vallej^s may be
found there in summer-time, so cold that in the month of
August the country people find ice and snow in shady
places in those valleys, and place it in earthenware vessels,
which they sell to rich men in cities, who cool their wine
therein. There are also some mountains so cold that they
always have their peaks covered with snow, as the Mount
Lebanon, of which Jeremiah says, ch. xviii., 'The snow of
Lebanon will never fail' Candia, an exceeding hot
island, is never without snow in certain valleys and on
certain peaks, as is plainly to be seen by those who sail
thither in summer time. On the other hand, some valleys
may be found which are so hot that snow or ice could
never remain therein for an hour, even in midwinter, and
mountains also which are bareheaded by reason of tlie
heat without any green vegetation whatever. The Vale
of Bethlehem is one of these warm valleys, which knows
not of snow, nor of ice. In it, about the Feast of the
Nativity of the Lord, the barley begins to grow a beard,
and therefore beasts are sent thither from other places that
they may pasture and grow fat therein in the winter, and
people hire certain pieces of ground for a time. Where-
fore, in their language, the time of the Lord's nativity is
called the time when grass grows. During the summer

574 T^HE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

the ground is dry, and baked by the glowing heat of the
sun, and in September, when the heat of the sun becomes
cooler, all the green things which grow in the earth begin
to flourish even as they do in our country in April, save
that the plants do not put forth flowers. Yet this season
is not hot, but fresh, and men may feel cold during it ; but
in May is full harvest-time. From all this it is cl-ear that
at the time of Christ's nativity shepherds could stay out
with their flocks in this valley, because it was warm and
p-reen. nor was the ground hard with frost, as perchance it
may have been higher up, where Christ was born, where
there were both snow, ice, and frost. It is, furthermore,
clear from the words used that there were not only two
or three shepherds there, but many all through the valley,
because there were flocks and herds there not only from
Bethlehem, but from all the regions round about, with
their keepers, who remained there day and night. There
must needs have been many of them, because of the
attacks of lions, bears, and wild boars, and because of the
robbers, who, from ancient times even to the present day,
haunt the desert places by the Jordan, living entirely on
theft and rapine, against whom there must needs have
been many shepherds, who could not only with their
voices, but with their clubs, keep off wild beasts and beast-
like men from their flocks. These shepherds all went up
into Bethlehem on the night of the nativity at the bidding
of the angel, and found the Babe, wrapped in swaddling
clothes, lying in the manger. It may, however, have been
that three among them, who were the chiefs, bore rule
over the rest, and that it is the sepulchres of these three
which are in the church aforesaid. This subject is treated
of by the Venerable Bede in his homily on the text
' Pastores loqnehantiirl etc., where he says: 'The angels
appeared to the shepherds in a place which, from tlie

BROTHER FELIX FADRT. 575

meeting together of sheep, had from of old been called
"the land of the flocks," one mile to the east of Bethlehem,
where even at the present day the tombs of those shepherds
are shown in a church.' Thus says Bede. Wherefore
Jerome, in his letter to the brethren about the holiness of
vigils, calls these shepherds exceeding holy men. I have
many times been in the valley where they kept their watch
in the hottest weather, when all green things were dried
up, yet I always saw flocks of sheep and goats there. In
another part of the valley opposite to Bethlehem there is
a farm standing in a pleasant situation, wherein we saw
the ruins of great walls, and it is said that in that place
stood the convent of S. Paula and her maidens. So after
we had seen the aforesaid places, we remounted our asses,
and rode towards Bethlehem ; and when upon the moun-
tain we saw the original arrangement of the place of
Christ's nativity better than we could when in the place
itself, even as the position of the Holy Sepulchre is seen
better from the gardens near Aceldama than in the
Sepulchre Church itself, as has been told already. On
the hill of Bethlehem we saw wide clifl*s and rocks appear-
ing out of the ground, beneath which were roomy caverns,
the dwellings of poor people who have no proper houses.
Such was the birthplace of Christ in the beginning, as I
shall prove.

When we had come up as far as the wall of Bethlehem
we circled round the wall and sought among the founda-
tions and the steep cliff on which the wall stands for a
certain hollow cave, which, however, we were not able to
find. I had read in a very ancient book of pilgrimage,
written by some saint, that when the Lord was born,
Joseph, as was customary, made ready a bath for the Babe
in an earthenware pot. After he had bathed the Child
Joseph took the pot, carried it out of the inn, and poured

576- THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

the holy water at random down the wall on to the rocks
which projected from among the foundations. For the
place of the nativity stands high, having below it a
precipitous hill and rocks, whereon the inn itself stood.
Now the holy water, when it fell from on high, fell into a
liollow rock, in which the whole of that sacred liquid was
received and preserved, and for many years that water
remained there without wasting and without corruption.
In days of old pilgrims were led to this pool, and washed
their faces therein, and drank thereof, and filled their
water-bottles, and took it to parts beyond sea for a bodily
medicine, because many sick people were made better by
tasting thereof; yet, how much soever might be taken
away, the quantity of the water did not grow less — a
miracle, because there was no spring to replenish it. So
we sought for this grotto with the holy water, but could
not by any means find it ; nor is this strange, seeing that
in the meanwhile great changes have been wrought in the
place by reason of the huge buildings which have been
erected there. In latter times, when the Christians
possessed the Holy Land, the King of Jerusalem fortified
Bethlehem with lofty walls and towers round about it, and
so the old arrangement of the place has been done away.
We went into Bethlehem, and found the Moorish lords,
our guides, ready to depart, for they had not gone down
with us into the valley, but had remained quietly waiting
for us in the church. They were bitter against us because
of our delay, and were in a hurry to return to Jerusalem
before [d] sunrise, lest we should suffer from the heat.

THE FAREWELL AND OBLATIONS OF THE PILGRIMS AT
THE PLACE OF THE BIRTH OF JESUS.

When the hour for leaving Bethlehem was come, we all
ran to the grotto of the Lord's nativity, that we might bid

BROTHER FELIX FADRI. 577

farewell to the Boy Jesus and the Virgin mother. From
the piety of pilgrims a custom has arisen, that when they
kiss the holy place of Christ's nativity for the last time
each pilgrim should offer a sum of money, placing it upon
the sacred stone of the Lord's nativity, for love of God
and the Virgin, and for the repair of the church, and the
support of the brethren who dwell there. During this
giving of oblations by the pilgrims there took place a
detestable deed, which, in truth, I am afraid to tell out of
respect to pilgrims. Yet I will tell it, that those who are
not able to come to those holy places may learn that a
holy place does no good to those who are not well disposed
in their hearts, and that a place which is not holy is no hin-
drance to men of good will. I, indeed, believe that in these
most holy places the Enemy tempts the unwary, and lies
in wait for them more than elsewhere. The empyrean
heaven, of all places the most sublime, did not avail
Lucifer ; that most noble Paradise did not guard our first
parents from sin ; the chamber of the Last Supper, the
most holy of places, did not keep St. Thomas from un-
belief Wherefore in the fortieth Canon it is written that
'neither places nor orders bring us nearer to our Creator,
but it is our own good deeds which bring us near to Him,
or our evil deeds which separate us from Him.' Now,
when, after the pattern of the three kings^ my lords the
pilgrims were offering their gifts at the place of the
nativity, giving, some gold, some silver, some golden rings,
and some wax, there came a certain knight who threw
down a ducat upon the stone, as many had done before
him. After that knight came an Eastern pilgrim, who
bowed himself down to kiss the place, and while in the
act of kissing it he stealthily stretched out his sacrilegious
hand, drew towards himself from the heap the two nearest
ducats, and then rose, went his way, and mingled with the

37

578 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

band of pilgrims. O thief and robber, worthy to be hung
on a thousand gibbets ! O plunderer, that ought to be
torn into a thousand pieces, and mangled with wheels of
fire ! O sacrilegious one, that should be burned in fire to
ashes ! O spoiler that oughtest to lose thy head, and to
be plunged into the depths of the sea ! What impiety 1
what cruelty moved thee to this I What unbelief blinded
thee, that in so exceeding holy a place as this, wherein
the Christian with his mind's eyes sees the needy Virgin,
the poor Infant, and the beggar Joseph, thou shouldst
steal from both of them ! Moreover, if thou dost not
believe this nor behold it, wherefore dost thou bow down
in this place ? Why bearest thou the sign of the Cross ?
How wast thou so rash as to presume to come hither ?
But if thou art a believer, and yet didst not fear to rob
the Babe because of the childhood which He put on for
thy sake, how didst thou not fear the eyes of His sweetest
mother, who sitteth by the side of the Babe, and most
carefully watcheth all that is done round about her child ?
Are we to suppose that they do not see, because they see
with more patience, as also with more wisdom, than man
seeth. And if thou didst not regard the Babe nor the
mother because of their endless loving-kindness, out of
which they do not straightway punish sin, but wait with
long-suffering, yet certes thou shouldst have feared her
grave and serious husband Joseph (170 a), upon whom
the care of both of them rested, and who gazes upon
them both, and never turns away his eyes. Furthermore,
if these things appear to thee to be vain, and thou declare
neither the Babe, nor His mother, nor Joseph, to be present
here, yet why did not that exceeding sweet odour, which
breathes forth from this place, left behind by the infant
limbs of the Boy Jesus and the body of His most chaste
mother, draw thee back from the act of sacrilege ? Per-

BROTHER FELIX FADRI. 579

chance it was with thee, as it was with that most avaricious
of men, the traitor Judas, who was all the more enraged,
stirred up and egged on to the selling and cruel betrayal
of his Master by the exceeding sweet scent of the ointment
which was poured on the head of Jesus, with the scent
whereof it is written that the whole house was filled. Of
a truth I suspect that hadst thou been here in the time
of the three kings thou wouldst have filched away their
presents, and wouldcst without shame or excuse have
plundered the young Child, His most delicate mother, and
the poor Joseph. Eut why do I dwell any longer on
this? Thy theft doth no harm to the Babe, for at this
day three kings do not come from the East together, but
many run hither in troops from the four quarters of the
world, and daily make oblations which are accepted by
the Babe. Neither doth thy theft deprive of their merit
those who give offerings, as it doth not him from whom
thou hast stolen this trifle, nor rob him of his piety, which
it shows in those who made the offerings, and storeth up
vengeance for thee with other wicked men in its own
good time. In such terms as these doth Jerome inveigh
against another act of sacrilege committed in this same
church, in his objurgatory Epistle against Sabinianus the
deacon, the seducer of the virgin Susanna.

Now, when my lords the knights had made their offer-
ings, and were counting up what they had given, we found
out that there must have been a thief among them, and,
looking round, _we saw that Eastern, and felt no manner of
doubt that he had done this evil. We laid hold of him
in the holy grotto, and on searching him found the gold
on him. We made him restore it to the proper place, and
when he had done this we drove him out of our company.
This theft took place on my first pilgrimage ; and on my
second the same thing happened through a certain Saracen

37—2

58o THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

\vho had come in with us, and who, bowing down at the
holy place as though he would pray, secretly filched away
some money from thence. Howbeit, some of the pilgrims
who were standing beside him and saw his trick followed
him, and we laid hold of him, and dragged him into the
holy grotto, despite of his shouts and struggles. With
great force we opened his hands, and found the money,
which we took, and with indignation thrust out the infidel
thief from the grotto. At last we kissed the place, and
by the permission of the holy mother went up out of it,
and on coming out of the church mounted our asses, and
returned to Jerusalem by the road by which we came.
When there we dined, and after dinner we laid ourselves
down to rest. On the previous night we had watched
beside the Lord's manger, and on the following night we
were to watch at the Lord's most holy tomb.

DESCRIPTION OF BETHLEHEM.

Having put our own pilgrimage to Bethlehem first, it
now remains for me to describe the place itself I shall
fu-st describe the city, and, secondly, the place of the
Lord's nativity.

Bethlehem is an ancient city, which in old time had
some name which {b'\ the Scriptures do not give, for I
cannot find by what name it was called before it was
named Ephrata. It was named Ephrata from the wife of
Caleb, who is buried there, who was so named, as we are
told by the author of the Specuhiin Historiale. They
say that this Ephrata, Caleb's wife, was Miriam, the sister
of Moses, who, before she was stricken with leprosy, was
named Miriam; but after her infection with leprosy, and
lier being cured therefrom, was named Ephrata, and who
(lied and was buried in the desert of Sin, as we are told in
Num. XX. I. Caleb afterwards dug her up, and buried"

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 581

her in Bethlehem, which was not then called by that name,
and gave her name to the city, calling it Ephrata. That
Ephrata was Caleb's wife is agreed by all, but that she
was Moses's sister is denied by many, as may be seen in
Nicholas de Lyra's commentary on i Chronicles ii., where
it is distinctly stated in the text that Ephrata was Caleb's
wife. St. Jerome holds that Ephrata was the sister of
Moses ; wherefore, in his letter to Principia the virgin; he
^ays : * Miriam, the sister of Moses, sings the victories of
the Lord, and marks our Bethlehem and Ephrata by her
name for a sign to them that come after her.' So for
many years this blessed city was named Ephrata, even
until after the famine, which took place in the days of
Elimelech, after which there was such plenty there that
it was called Bethlehem, which is, being interpreted, ' the
house of bread.' About this famine and the plenty which
followed it one may read in the whole book of Ruth.
'Beth' in Hebrew signifies 'a house,' and ' lechem,'
* bread ' ; wherefore ' Bethlehem ' means ' the house of
bread.' Here it should be noted that the names of the
cities and villages of the Holy Land for the greater part
begin with * Beth,' after which syllable comes another,
which tells the peculiarity of the place ; as here Bethlehem,
the house of bread, because of the abundance of corn
which was there after a great and long famine. Bethany
is called the village of the jawbone, because it was a
village of priests, and sheep were bred there to be sacrificed
on the altar, whereof the jawbone fell to the priests as their
portion. So Bethany is called 'the house of obedience,'
because one of the kings of Jerusalem built a castle there
to the end that it should be obedient to the king's court,
and to the city of Jerusalem, and the Mount Sion. So
Bethsames is called ' the house of the sun,' because of the
temple which stood therein, in which the sun was

582 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

worshipped. Bethel was called 'the house of God,'
because there Jacob beheld the secrets of heaven, and
said: 'This is none other than the house of God,' as we
read in Gen. xxviii. 17. So Bethagla is called 'the house
of mourning,' because there Jacob's sons mourned for their
father when he died, as we read in the last chapter of
Genesis, etc., . . . and in the case of many other names
of villages beginning with ' Beth,' whose interpretation you
get in Jerome's book on the interpretation of Hebrew
names. A like fashion of naming castles, towns, and cities
prevails in Germany, save that in German the syllable
which signifies ' house ' is put last in the word, whereas in
Hebrew it is put first We say in German Offenhusen,
which is in Latin open house, and in Hebrew Bethboforon.
We also say in German Schafhusen, the house of the
sheep in Latin, which is in Hebrew Bethanania. So
Ochsenhusen, house of the ox, Betschor, Gaishusen, house
of the goat, Bethess. So a village near Ulm is called
Dreckshusen, the house of dung, Bethsevell. And if the
Germans were at this day the owners of the Holy Land,
then Bethlehem might rightly be called Brothusen, Beth-
phage Baggahusen, Bethsames Sonnahusen, Bethagla
Flanhusen, Bethsaida [177 a] Fruchthusen, Bethaven Ab-
gotthusen, Bethhara Berghusen, Bethaben Steinhusen,
Bethrama Hochhusen, and so in many other instances.

Now, the city of Bethlehem was noble, and the dwelling
of nobles from old times ; wherefore it may be that before
it was named Ephrata and Bethlehem, it may have been
called Bethtonforon — that is, ' the house of nobles '^albeit,
we do not learn its true name from the Scriptures.
Although it was a city of nobles, yet was it never a large
city, seeing that the form of the place forbids this. It
stands upon a mountain ridge, which is long, but not wide
on the top ; moreover, it stands on a horn or brow of the

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 583

mountain, in such sort that the ground whereon it stands
is set about with valleys on the north., east, and south, and
curves back towards Jerusalem on the western side. Here
it once had ditches, walls, and towers, as may plainly be
^een even at the present day. I have walked round the
city, and have most carefully inspected its site. At the
present day the village is fairly populous, and its inhabi-
tants take no heed of walls or ditches. The greater part
of those who dwell there are Eastern Christians, who are
in league with the Saracens, and even with the Arabs, and
who support themselves from the country round about,
for the soil round about Bethlehem is exceedinji fertile,
abounding in corn, wine, oil, and pasture. In the division
of the land among the twelve tribes of Israel, it fell to the
lot of the tribe of Judah, and to the portion of Phases, a
most noble family of that tribe.

The blessed Jerome has shown how worthy Bethlehem
is of praise in many of his writings; more especially in the
epistle to Marcella he says : ' With what speech can I tell
you of the inn of Mary — with what words can I describe
to you the Saviour's Grotto ? Indeed, the manger wherein
the Babe wailed is better honoured by silence than by
inadequate speech. Here are wide porticos and gilded
ceilings. Lo ! out of Bethlehem, in this tiny corner of the
earth, was born the Founder of the heavens ; it was here
that He was wrapped in sv/addling clothes, that He was
seen and worshipped by the shepherds and the Magi.
This spot, I trow, is holier than the Tarpeian Rock, whose
being so often struck by lightning proves that it is dis-
pleasing to God. There there is, indeed, a holy church,
and a believing people, and a populous city, but ambi-
tion. ... In Christ's village there is a secure rusticity;
there is silence, save for the singing of psalms, whitherso-
ever you turn yourself; he that holds the plough chants

584 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

Alleluia; the sweating reaper betakes him to psalmody;
the vine-dresser as he trims the vines with his crooked
knife sings some of the songs of David. These are the
ballads of this province ; these are what are commonly
called elsewhere "lovers' songs."' Thus St. Jerome. Beth-
lehem was so highly prized by the holy Paula that she
preferred it to Rome, and, as St. Jerome saith in his epistle
on the life and death of S. Paula, she exchanged the con-
temptible glitter of hideous dirt for beaten gold. The
great Sophronius, a man of deep learning, composed an
elegant book on the praises of Bethlehem, as Jerome tells
us in his treatise ' Of Illustrious Men.' He likewise trans-
lated from Latin into Greek all the works which Jerome
had translated from Hebrew into Latin. St. Bernard in
his sermon to the Knights Templars greatly praises Beth-
lehem, the place where the Lord was born.

THE PLACE OF CHRIST'S NATIV^ITY, WHAT IT USED TO
BE, AND WHAT IT IS LIKE AT THIS DAY.

The place of the Lord's birth was not in the town, but
was adjoining the city wall on a slope on the north side
of the town, as may be seen at this day. It delights me
to talk about this most sweet place, even as it delighted me
to dwell therein, and I wish to say what this place was like.

I- Before Christ's coming, in the time of the judges,
prophets, and kings of Juda.

II. At the birth of Christ, when Mary bore Christ
therein.

III. After the birth of Christ, when the malice of the
Jews raged against the very place itself.

IV. In the time of Helena, who rendered the place
illustrious with glory and honour.

V. In the time of St. Jerome, who became famous there
for his holiness and miracles.

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 585

VI. In the time of the perverted and bad Christians,
■who desecrated the holy places.

VII. In the time of the Saracens, who have brought it
almost to nothing, and reduced it to its present wretched
5tate.

As touching the first question what the place of Christ's
birth was like before the Lord's advent, the reader must
know that Salmon, the son of Naasson, took to wife
Rahab the harlot of Jericho, Now this Salmon was one
•of the greatest chiefs of the people of Israel, when they
crossed over Jordan and took the land by force of arms.
He and Rahab his wife owned Bethlehem, and their
stronghold and house was there. He built for himself a
vast dwelh'ng against the wall, in such sort that his house
was not included within the walls of the town, ; but
separately fortified, even as in our own parts the lords of
cities have separate dwellings of their own, adjoining the
•city wall. Now this dwelling was built upon the rock,
and there was a hollow in the rock [b'\ forming a grotto,
which was useful as a cellar to put things into which would
not bear the heat ; and when the heat was very great
people used to sleep there, and pregnant women were
■delivered there, wherefore it was there that Rahab bore
Boaz, who after his father's death was made judge over
the whole people of Israel and lord of Bethlehem, who
took to wife Ruth the Moabitess, who in that cave bore
Obed, and Obed's wife bore Jesse therein, and Jesse's wife
bore David the king in that same cave. Now, after David
was made king, he took the flocks and the household of
his father to the house which he had built for himself in
Jerusalem on Mount Sion, and left the house of his birth
empty. Yet was Bethlehem called the city of David,
because he was born there and anointed king there, as
likewise Mount Sion, where he reigned, was called the

586 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

city of David, and both often occur in Scripture. But
after this transfer of the household of David was made
less respect was paid to the house at Bethlehem, wherefore
the doors and doorways became ruined and broken through
by age, and the house became a house of call for merchants,
and bread, cloth, and fruit was sold therein ; and before
the house was an open space where men met to converse,
and young men met to dance, and so this house stood for
many years as a public shop or place of shops which stood
under the vaults, and it was an inn — a shelter for strangers
at night. This was the first state of the holy place of the
"nativity. The second state of this place was as follows :
Because no care was taken of the place to maintain the
buildings thereon, at last the vaults were broken and fell
in, the bare walls went to ruin, and contained no more
shops or merchandise ; howbeit, the ruins of the walls
still stood there, and upon them a poor and imperfect
building was raised, and a hovel, at the end or head of
which hovel was the aforesaid grotto. Now this hovel
was an inn, to which poor people resorted, and tied up
their cattle there, and put there their carts and the other
things which they could not find room for in the city.
Thus the place remained until the time of Joseph, the
husband of the Virgin Mary. When at the proclamation
bf Caesar Augustus he came from Nazareth to Bethlehem
with the pregnant Virgin Mary, he found the city full of
people, and all the rooms in the inns taken ; and so, not
finding any place wherein he could stay, he went out of
the city, turned into this inn in which stood cattle and
farming-gear, and there made a place for himself. Now
when the blessed Virgin Mary's time was come that she
should be delivered, she entered into the cave wherein last
the first David had been born, and there she bore the
second David, Jesus Christ, as hath been told on page 169 d.

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 587

and in that place she dwelt for a time. For what an inn
is like see page 195 ^.

The third state of this most holy place was as follows :
When our Lord was born, and after His flight into Egypt,
Herod proceeded to the murder of the innocent children,
and with great fury searched the inn, seeking therein for
the Boy Jesus, because he had heard that the mother to
whom the Magi had brought presents had dwelt there. As
he did not 'find the Child [178^?] there he destroyed the
inn, cast down the walls which had remained standing,
and ordered that thenceforth there should be no inn on
that spot. So the place remained deserted until after the
Lord's ascension. Then, however, the blessed Virgin
Mary began to visit the place with her friends, as is told
on page 173 l^ ; and, in consequence of this, other faithful
people came to that holy place and did honour to it.
After the assumption of the blessed Virgin, when the
faithful were showing their respect for the place, the Jews,
enraged at this, laid a ban upon both the place and those
who came to it, proclaiming the place to be unclean and
accursed, and that everyone who entered into it was defiled
and worthy of punishment ; moreover, they blocked up
the ways leading into the place with stones. The place
remained thus shut up even unto the times of Titus and
Vespasian, w'ho took Jerusalem by storm, and scattered
abroad the Jews throughout the world. After they had
been scattered the Christians began to dwell in the Holy
Land, and they cleansed the place of the Lord's nativity,
and made pilgrimages to it until the time of the emperor
/Elius Hadrianus, who made the holy places abominable
to the Christians with idols ; for he set up a statue of
Venus upon the rock of Calvary in the place where Christ
died, and placed the image of Jupiter in the cave wherein
Christ was buried, and ordained the cave of the Lord's

5S8 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

nativity to be used for wailing for Adonis, so that Adonis,
the darling of the most unchaste Venus, was now wailed
for in the cave wherein once Christ had cried as a babe
and the most chaste Virgin had nursed Him^ as we are
told by Jerome in his epistle to Paulinus on the ordination
of monks. For this wailing for Adonis see Ezekiel viii. 14,
and Part II. of this book, page 140 a, and at greater
length on page 179 a. So was this holy place rendered
strange to Christians — nay, loathsome to them because of
idolatry.

The fourth state of this holy place was as follows : The
place remained for more than three hundred years given
up to the vile service of idols, at the end of which time
God raised up the soul of that holy woman Helena, a
German, who, after she had become empress and been
made a Christian, went to Jerusalem, sought out the holy
places, found the cross and the other symbols of our
redemption, cleansed the holy places, cast down the idols,
and hurried from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, where she
cleansed the place of the most sweet nativity of the Lord,
cast out the abominations of the idols from the holy
cave, overthrew all that she found there, and beneath the
ruins found the Lord's manger entire. In it she found
the stone which the blessed Virgin had placed under the
Babe's head, and the hay, the swaddling clothes, Joseph's
sandals, and the long gown in which she was delivered,
after the fashion of Eastern women, who when they are
with child wear long wide gowns like the surplices of
priests, and pages carry their mistresses' trains. But if
they be poor and have no pages, they gird themselves, and
carry the gown hanging down from their girdle. Such a
gown had the blessed Virgin Mary, and left it in that
place with other things because of the haste with which
she fled, which things were by Divine command preserved

BROTHER FELIX FA BR I. 589

uncorrupted even unto the time of St. Helena, who found
them.

When she had cleansed the spot, she built above it a
church of wondrous beauty. She called together the best
workmen in wood and stone, and [/;] told them of her
design, which was that an exceeding costly church should
be built here, but in such a manner that the rock beneath
which the Saviour was born should remain untouched.
So the workmen prepared the place for the building of a
great church, and placed therein none but chosen pieces
of wood and stone, white and polished slabs of marble,
exceeding precious columns, and beams of cedar and
cypress wood. Besides these things this lioly woman gave
more, providing gold and silver without fail to the chief
workmen, and other metals without measure. She covered
all the walls and all the pavement with white or variegated
marble, and caused the upper part of the walls to be
painted in mosaic work. Thus was built a great and
noble church of oblong form, exceeding well arranged, in
such sort that the cave of the Lord's nativity remained
untouched immediately beneath the choir, beneath the
sanctuary. This church is built after the fashion of Roman
churches, for it has first of all at the west end a covered
porch before the doors of the church, and when one enters
a great, long, and wide nave ; and beyond this to the
eastward a choir, into which one ascends by some steps
from the nave, from which choir one goes up into the
sanctuary and into the presbytery. From the sanctuary
one goes up some steps to the high altar. On either side
of the choir are chapels, and on either side of the nave
are apses {? transepts). Beneath the choir is the crypt
of the Lord's nativity, which is about as long as the choir ;
and beneath the high altar is the hollow stone wherein
Christ was born. There are two doors leading into this

590 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

crypt, whereof one is on the right-hand side leading into
the chapel of the Lord's circumcision, and the other
leads into the chapel on the left-hand side. The way down
into the crypt is by sixteen steps. It has a roof made of
lead, and is not vaulted, as, indeed, the chief churches at
Rome are not vaulted. It has a round choir full of
windows, and a passage on the outside above the windows.
The nave has many windows on either side, and the church
is bright and light. This is the general arrangement of
the church. To come to details, the church measures
thirty-seven paces in length, and eighteen in width. It
contains four rows of costly columns, which are great and
tall, and each one of them is made of a single solid stone,
and they are polished with oil, so that a man can see his
face in them as in a mirror. So it is also with the slabs
of polished marble with which the walls are clothed, which
are so clean that a man can see in them everything that
is in the church more clearly than he could in a good
mirror. Each row of columns has twelve columns, and
each column is twelve paces distant from the one next
to it, and in all these are seventy exceeding precious
columns arranged as the building requires them. Above
the capitals of the columns are placed beams of imperish-
able wood, from which on either side a wall rises up as
far as the roof. This wall, from the columns as far as
the windows, is not painted, but inlaid,^ being adorned
with mosaic work with wondrous art on either side, like
the church of St. Mark at Venice, with figures from the
New Testament, and corresponding figures from the Old
Testament, and the whole church in all its walls is either
cased with white polished marble, or adorned with mosaic
work. Above all, the cave of the nativity beneath the

^ Lasiira. See laceiire in Godefroy's ' Dictionnaire de I'Ancienne
Langue Frangaise.'

BROTHER FELIX FABRL 591

choir is adorned with exceeding costly pavements and
wall-slabs and pictures. (179 a) In all these matters the
sainted woman spared no expenses, but contributed with
the greatest liberality. Wherefore the Jews in derision
used to call the sainted woman ' the woman of the stable,'
because she built so costly a building over a humble stable.
When the sainted woman had finished her work she took
the wooden manger, which Joseph is said to have made,
and the swaddling clothes, and Joseph's sandals, and the
blessed Virgin's long gown, and took them to Constanti-
nople, not meaning to rob Bethlehem, but to make other
places also venerable on account of the relics from
Bethlehem. She deposited the aforesaid relics at
Constantinople in the church of St. Sophia, and there
they remained until the time of Charles^ the Great. This
Charles delivered the holy' city of Jerusalem and its
patriarch Zachary from the power of the Saracens, and
restored peace to the Eastern Christians. When he had
returned with his army to Constantinople he begged as
the reward of his labours the manger with the hay, the
swaddling clothes, the sandals, and the long gown of the
blessed Virgin. All these he received, and took them to
Rome ; he placed the hay in the church of St. Mary the
Great, and the manger he placed in the holy of holies in
the church of St. John Lateran. The gown and Joseph's
sandals, and the swaddling clothes wherein Jesus was
wrapped, he took into Lower Germany, and placed thcni
in the church of the blessed Virgin which he had built
at Aachen. Even to the present day they are shown there
every seventh year. I myself saw them there in the
year 1487.

The fifth state of the place of Christ's nativity was as
follows : After the times aforementioned the whole of the

» Charlemagne.

592 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

East was converted to Christ, and the holy places were
visited by all the nations of the world. Some devout men
and saints sold all that they had, came to the Holy Land
with the money, and they bought a dwelling-place there,
desiring to finish their lives there. Among them came
St. Jerome, from Rome, and chose to live at Bethlehem,
near the Lord's manger. He was followed by that most
holy widow, Paula, and many others. This has been set
forth on page 6 a, and page 8 a. After this golden age,
as the sins of the Christians increased, the Saracens again
conquered the land in the time of Benedict the Eighth, in
whose reign the great schism arose in the church, and
many evil deeds were done, and the Saracens held the holy
places for many years by the payment of tribute. Then
a second time Christians throughout the world cried out
for the holy places, the whole West was united together,
and they went into the Holy Land in a great multitude,
both by sea and by land, won it back with much labour,
and set up a king in Jerusalem. They rebuilt the churches
and monasteries, instituting bishops and prelates for the
increasing of the service of God, and in a short time they
brought all the nations round about into subjection, so
that no one stirred a finger against them ; for in the mean-
while the Christians had fortified towns and castles, and
more especially they had strengthened Jerusalem and
Bethlehem against the infidels with walls and towers. In
those times holy Bethlehem was full of people — famous,
and rich. Christians from every country on earth brought
presents thither, and exceeding rich merchants dwelt there.
Wherefore at this day there are vaulted colonnades in
front of the churches, beneath which the shops of the
merchants used to stand, and the clergy and people alike
progressed enormously [b] in matters temporal and spiritual
alike. Every day pilgrims from all parts of the world

BROTHER FELIX FADRI. 593

flocked thither in great companies, not merely to the end
that they might see the holy places and receive indul-
gences, but that they might see examples of righteousness,
and might take home with them amendment of their own
lives. More especially at the chief feasts, to wit, the
Lord's Nativity and the Resurrection, such a multitude
collected together from the uttermost parts of the world
that the land could scarce contain them, because of the
exceeding devotion wherewith the holy services were per-
formed.

They used to celebrate the Feast of the Lord's Nativity
in the following manner : On the eve of the Lord's Nativity
the patriarch of Jerusalem came to Bethlehem, together
with his bishops, abbots, clergy, and monks. Accompany-
ing them came the King of Jerusalem, with his princes,
counts, knights, lords, and nobles, who were followed by
a countless multitude of pilgrims, led by the grand master
and lords of the Knights Hospitallers, and the common
people, both old and young, all hastened to Bethlehem on
that day. At midnight the ringing of bells called all the
people into the Church of Christ's Nativity, where after
morning prayer the Bishop of Bethlehem, with his attend-
ants, all in their sacred vestments, went in procession into
the cave of the Nativity, and sang mass in the place of the
nativity — ' Doininus dixit ad me,' etc. When this service
1 was over they all went out of the church in procession,

carrying lighted torches, candles, lamps, and other lights,
and went down the valley as far as the Church of ' Gloria
in Excelsis,' where they held the service ' Ljix fiilgcbit cum
Diagno gaudiol this service being chanted by some one of
the great pastors and prelates. After this service they
went up again, and chanted the rest of the canonical hours.
At this time the patriarch of Jerusalem put on his sacred
vestments, and performed the high mass, ' Piier est natusl

38

594 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

etc., in the choir with admirable solemnity. They used
to have a great golden star, which some of them lowered
down from the roof of the choir into the midst of them.
Young men stood above, who sang ' Glory to God in the
highest,' and moved the star all the way from the east to
the west. Likewise also on the Day of the Circumcision
a great solemnity took place at Bethlehem, and likewise
on the Day of the Kings all the people assembled thither
with presents. On the octave of the Epiphany they used
to celebrate the Feast of the Baptism in the Church of
St. John the Baptist upon Jordan, and for this all the
people and clergy went down to the Jordan. On the Day
of the Annunciation they met at Nazareth ; on Good
Friday and Easter Day in the (Church of the) Lord's
Sepulchre ; on the Day of the Last Supper on Mount
Sion, as likewise on the Day of Pentecost ; on the Day of
the Lord's Ascension on the Mount of Olives ; on the
Day of the Assumption of the blessed Virgin Mary in the
Valley of Josaphat. The only wish of the people was to
perform divine service with devout solemnity. As long
as this singleness of heart and devotion to the holy places
endured, they were kept in great honour and beauty [i8o^],
and the Christian people dwelt in peace and quietness. Oh,
had anyone then beheld the church of Bethlehem with all
its adornments, he would have been astounded at its
magnificence !

The sixth state of the place of the Lord's Nativity strikes
every faithful Catholic with sorrow. Alas ! my kind
brethren, in order that I may tell you of this, I am forced
to change my style, and must offer to you to drink the
cup of bitterness which I myself have mournfully received,
filled to the brim with the acerbity of sorrow. While the
Christians served God in the Holy Land, they possessed
the holy places in peace, and all nations served Him ; but

BROTHER FELIX FADRI. 595

when the service of God was neglected, the opposite of
these things came to pass. In the year of our Lord 1 1S6,
in the days of Pope Urban III., there was a king in
Jerusalem named Guy, who was careless and unlucky, and
between him and his princes there arose strife and sedition,
so that, as the nobles of the land were quarrelsome and
jealous, the priests and clergy became greedy and proud,
and the common people incontinent and vicious. Where-
fore the Saracens rose against them, and persecuted them
even to extermination.

Moreover, a certain Christian committed a sin in the
church at Bethlehem, whereat all courage and power of
resistance was taken away from the Christians, and they
became weaker than women. Of a truth, a horrible infamy
is recounted, how that a Christian turned the enclosure of
the church at Bethlehem, built in honour of the most
glorious Virgin Mary, the mother of chastity, the hall of
modesty, the vase of cleanliness, into a house of ill-fame,
to the despite of the mother of God. I loathe to speak
of this event, but the ruin and piteous contempt into which
the place has fallen, and which must be wept for because
of this crime, does not allow me to pass it over in silence.
There was a Christian in those days who loved a Saracen
woman with an unclean love, and earnestly besought her
every day to consent to him, whereas she constantly
resisted him, and fled from him. One day, when he was
annoying the woman more eagerly than usual, she cast in
his teeth the name of Christ, and the chastity of the
Christian religion, which he made light of, and declared
that the crime was not so grave a one as it was thought
to be. Now, the woman had marked the virtue of the
Christians in many things, and wondered that she should
be so solicited. Led by curiosity, she wished to try
whether there were any virtue or fear of God in that

38—2

595 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

Christian, and one day she said to him : ' Lo ! I am over-
come by thy importunities, and I consent to thee; but I
will not yield to thee save in the church of St. Mary in
Bethlehem.' He willingly accepted this condition, and at
the appointed hour they met in the church, he and she
alone. When the woman saw that he cared nothing for
the church, that he should restrain himself therein, she
said : ' I will not yield to thee here ; let us go into the
eave of the birth of thy God ; there it is dark and secret.'
He straightway went down with the woman, who placed
herself upon the Lord's manger, and sate there. As he
pressed upon her, she rose up, took her seat upon the
stone, which is in the place of the most holy Nativity, and
said to the Christian : * Here was thy God born of a
virgin ; if thou canst lie with me here [If], come.' That
desperate and execrable wretch fearlessly went to her,
caring nothing for the place. Seeing this, the woman
abhorred his wickedness, and indignantly cast away that
Christian from her. ' Go,' said she, ' most wicked Christian,
and know that this wickedness shall by no means pass
unpunished.' Saying this, the woman fled, and first entered
Bethlehem, where, with cries and tears, she told all men
what had befallen, inveighing against the Christians, and
urging on the Saracens to avenge her upon them. Hence-
forth that woman became a kind of prophetess among the
Saracens, preaching to them that there was no more virtue
among the Christians, and that they might fearlessly attack
them, and drive them out of the country. Hearing this,
the Saracens, excited by religious zeal, rose against the
Christians, and began to rage furiously against them, con-
quered them, and in a short time drove all the Latins out
of their country. Now, he who did this aforesaid wicked-
ness was one of the greatest and most powerful of the
Christians. Oh, had such an evil deed been done in the

BROTHER FELIX FADRL 597

time of Jerome, what wailings and tears it would have
called forth ! For in the time of Jerome there was a
deacon named Sabinianus and a virgin named Susanna,
who, being in love with one another, used to hide their
letters either in the cave of the Lord's Nativity, or in the
Church of the Shepherds. St. Jerome found them, and
anyone who wishes to know what weeping and mourning
they caused him should read the objurgatory epistle to
Sabinianus, and he will scarce restrain himself from weep-
ing together with the mourner. Thus, then, the Holy
Land came into the hands of the infidels and enemies of
the Cross of Christ, who hold the same even to this day,
and have already held it for two hundred and eighty-
seven years ; and thus it is evident that as our salvation
began in Bethlehem, even so our banisiiment began there
also.

THE MODERN STATE OF THE CHURCH OF BETHLEHEM.

The seventh state of the place of Christ's Nativity is
that wherein I, Brother Felix Fabri, beheld it. For v>'hen,
as aforesaid, the Saracens had triumphed over the Chris-
tians, and had driven them out of the land, they first
rushed into Jerusalem, into the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre, desiring to overthrow it ; but the Syrians, that
is to say the Christians of Syria, redeemed it by giving
the Soldan a great sum of gold. After this the Soldan
came to Bethlehem, where he broke down the exceeding
strong fortalice which had been built there, destroyed the
city wall, and turned himself to the Church of the Nativity
of the Lord. First he destroyed the monastery which
adjoined the church, which was exceeding great and
stately, and cast down the walls and towers which the
Christians had built with great expense and labour, and
left a piteous heap of ruins all round about the church.

598 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

When he had destroyed the defences he attacked the
church, meaning to break it down and destroy it. When
they came in they first destroyed the altars, and then
broke the carven images ; but the Soldan, when he saw
the marble slabs wherewith the walls and the floor were
adorned, and the exceeding precious columns, gave orders
that they should all be pulled down, that he might take
them away whither he pleased. O miracle and prodigy,
meet to be proclaimed among the faithful ! When the
workmen came with their tools, and had touched the wall
near the door by which one goes into the Lord's cave
with their iron crowbars, the Soldan standing by and
watching them out of the unbroken solid wall, which it
seemed that even a needle could not pierce, there came
forth a serpent of wondrous size, who bent his head back
against the wall, and gave a bite to the first marble slab,
and split it with his fiery tongue. [i8i d] From thence
he swiftly crawled to the next slab, and onwards to the
third and fourth, and so he went along one side, splitting
every slab. He leaped into the chapel of the Three Kings,
ran along that highly-polished wall whereon not even a
spider could plant its feet, split forty slabs in two, and
disappeared. On beholding this miracle the Soldan was
astounded, and all those about him, so that they changed
their purpose, left off destroying, and went away. Now
the track of the serpent over the slabs remains even to
this day, and is as though someone had held glowing hot
iron hard against the stones, and as though the stones
themselves had been able to burn like wood. I beheld the
traces of this miracle with great pleasure, and often looked
curiously upon them with inward wonderment.

After this, in the year 1341, there came Saracens, who
were sent by the Soldan, to carry away the precious
columns. But when they laid their hands upon them

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 599

they were so greatly frightened by some horrible vision
that their limbs were palsied, and they could do nothing ;
wherefore they fled in terror, and never again presumed
to lay their hands upon them. After some years had
passed another Soldan again gave orders, not, indeed, that
the church should be destroyed, but that the slabs of the
pavement in the Lord's cave should be taken up. Now
the slabs of the pavement of the Lord's manger are exceed-
ing costly, great and wide, not altogether white, but a
beauteous colour is mixed with the white, as it is in the
skins of calves.^ When they had gone down with their tools
to lift up these slabs, whatever they touched with their
tools or their hands continually broke into the smallest
possible pieces like rotten wood, and had they lifted up
the slabs they would have been useless. When they saw
this, they left the slabs in their places and fled. I have
measured these slabs, and each of them is seven feet
wide and twelve feet long, and they are polished like
mirrors.

Not many years passed before some young Saracens,
who presumed to lay their sacrilegious hands on these
holy stones, were punished. There is a belief among the
Saracens that beneath the stone of the Lord's Nativity,
and beneath the manger, inestimable treasures lie buried,
but that they cannot be found or seen. Some curious and
greedy youths climbed into the church by night through
the window which is above the altar of the Lord's circum-
cision, entered the most holy cave, and raised the slabs at
the place of the Nativity and those at the manger. What-
ever they raised fell into pieces in their hands, and when
they began to dig such great fear and trembling came
upon them that they left their tools, dropped out of the
window through which they came, and left their country,

* ' Sicut sunt pelles vehina; ' (.'').

too THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

nor could anyone find out whither those thieves went. It
is said to be true, and is not doubted among those who
dwell near the spot, that no Saracen can carry anything-
out of the church himself with his own hands ; [d] and if
any Saracen presumes to lay his hands upon anything
with intent to take it away, he will not go unpunished.
But, notwithstanding this, many polished slabs have been
torn from the walls by Christian thieves ; for the wretched
Eastern Christians take away such things as these and
sell them to the Saracens, wherefore the Saracens some-
times hire Christian thieves for a price, to steal for them
the slabs which they covet. No one can doubt that if
the Saracens were able to take away these marble orna-
ments they would all have been taken away long ago ;
but God watches over these places for our consolation, and
for His own glory, and nevertheless suffers them to come
into jeopardy for our sins. During my first pilgrimage
the roof of the church, which is of great weight because
it is made of lead, was threatening to fall in upon the
choir, and was only held up by long beams set up on the
pavement of the choir, upon which it rested. Wherefore
I then wished that God would raise up King Jehoash, of
whom we read in 2 Kings xii. that he forced the priests
to repair the breaches of the Temple of the Lord, and I
have often sorrowed deeply, fearing that the church would
fall into irretrievable ruin ; for had it fallen down it never
would have been rebuilt ; for thus are the Saracens charged
by Mohamet in his Alcoran, that they suffer not the
Christians to build new churches, nor to repair their old
ones. So for many years the Soldan refused permission
to the Christians to repair the breaches of that church ;
howbeit, at length being overcome by the constant
entreaties of the Minorite brethren of Mount Sion, he
relaxed his strictness, and allowed the breaches to be

BROTHER FELIX FADRI. 60 1

repaired. Wherefore the brethren took measures to have
all the wood needful for these repairs got ready at Venice
by workmen who had been given the measurements of the
church, and for having it brought in galleys by sea to
Joppa, and carried from Joppa to Bethlehem upon camels,
and thus the whole of the roof of the church has been
restored by Venetian workmen, and all defects in the wood
and in the lead have been made good with great labour
and expense ; for they took away from the roof the old
wood, which was cedar and cypress from Mount Lebanon,
and put in new pine-wood from our mountains. Indeed,
Solomon, when building the temple at Jerusalem, received
cedar-wood from Lebanon, which the King of Tyre sent
him over sea in ships to Joppa, and he himself brought
it from Joppa to Jerusalem, as we read in 2 Chron. ii.,
and Joshua iii. 2. Likewise St. Helena caused beams of
cedar to be sent to her over sea by ships to Joppa, and
there to be landed and brought to Bethlehem. This was
then easy, and could be managed in a few days ; but now
it is most difficult for Christians to take timber from
Lebanon, because the infidels now possess those countries,
and even if they were to allow us to take it, they would
burden it with excessive customs, duties, and other exactions,
wherefore it is easier to take wood from our Alps for the
repair [182 a] of the churches of Christ than from the
mountains which border on the Holy Land. I believe that
in Lebanon itself there is no more cedar timber, even as
on Mount Sion there is no more of the cypress wood,
whereof Solomon saith in the Book of Wisdom : ' I was
exalted as a cedar in Lebanon, and as a cypress on Mount
Sion.'^ Since the restoration of this church the whole

^ So in the text. The passage which Fabri meant to quote is
Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 13 : ' I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as
a cypress-tree upon the mountains of Hermon.'

6o2 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

of the church has become cleaner, for before it the roof
was full of pigeons and sparrows, and of the nests of divers
kinds of birds, who muted from above, and defiled the
costly pavement ; but since it has been repaired martens
have come, which run about there and leave no bird alive,
and preserve the roof from all uncleanness. Sometimes
I have been alone in that church at night and have heard
so much running about of the martens in the roof that I
was terrified, believing that it was some delusion, until I
learned the truth. Not only did the Lord and King of
Egypt, the Soldan Catube, grant permission for the repair
of this church, but he even allowed much to be set up
again among the ruins of the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre, contrary to the law of Mahomet his prophet.
I think that the Soldan of our times is as another King
Cyrus, who, albeit he was a Gentile, yet permitted the
Jews to rebuild the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem
which Nebuchadnezzar had cast down. Of this Cyrus,
King of Persia, we read in Esdras i., and in Isaiah xlvi.^
Neither is this Cyrus said to have done this of himself,
but God raised up his spirit, as we read in Chron. ii. last
chapter, and the first Book of Esdras. Even so in truth
the Soldan, moved by the Spirit of God, gave leave to
repair the holy places, and would give leave to do much
more did not the railing enemies of the Christians turn
him av/ay from his purpose, even as it happened to Ezra,
as we read in the fifth (?) chapter of Isaiah, and throughout
the whole Books of Nehemiah and Ezra. Nor should we
believe, as many do, that the Soldan is chiefly moved by
the love of money, and of the gain which he receives from
the pilgrims, in that he suffers the churches of the Chris-
tians to be repaired, but he doth so in the main by the
inspiration of God, albeit he knows nothing thereof. Did

* Esdras \., passim, Isaiah xliv. 28.

BROTHER FELIX FABRT. 603

God not act thus, the Saracens would on no account suffer
the churches to stand, nor would they suffer pilgrims to
roam about the land as they do, not even if a great sum
of money were given to them, for the hate which they bear
toward us far exceeds the love which they have for the
money which they expect from us, which is little enough.
Neither doth the king and Soldan receive one penny of
that money, but only some men in office, and even they
are not able to live a life of luxury thereon. Wherefore
we ought to give thanks to God for having turned the
heart of the Soldan toward us, and we ought to pray for
the life of the king and Soldan, even as we read that the
Jews used to pray for the lives of the Gentile kings —
Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Artaxcrxes, and Antiochus — in
the first chapter of the Book of Baruch. The results show
that the Soldan is inclined to our faith, nor do I doubt
that were some sage, eloquent and powerful Christian
to direct toward him that prayer wherewith the venerable
Master Nicholausde Cusa addresses him in Book III.,ch. 17
of his translation of the Alcoran, he would turn himself
to the better way. But Christians ouglit to pray for him,
as is made clear on page 249 d.

THE CHRISTIANS OF VARIOUS RITES WHO ARE ESTAB-
LISHED IN THE CHURCH AT BETHLEHEM.

This church at Bethlehem is in its upper part profaned
and desecrated, nor has it one single lamp in its upper
part, neither in the choir nor in the nave nor in the chapels,
but it stands like a barn [d] without hay, an apothecary's
shop without pots of drugs, or a library without books ;
the precious pictures are dropping from the walls, and
there is no one to restore them. Yet we are thankful that
the body of the church is still standing. Now, the church
is divided among Christians according to the division of

6o4 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

their rites, as hath been aforesaid touching the church of
Golgotha, on page 133 a, and the church of the blessed
Virgin, page 144 d. The Greeks have the choir; the
Latins have the cave of the Lord's Nativity ; the Armenians
have the altar at the place where the three kings made
their offerings. Nothing in that church is consecrated or
illumined with lamps, save the cave of the Lord's Nativity.
Whenever I have been at Bethlehem I have performed
divine service in this cave as follows : First, I have per-
formed the canonical hours according to the rule of our
breviary, after which, in the second place, I began to say
the hours of the Lord's Nativity, and the three masses
which are said on the Day of the Lord's Nativity on three
consecutive days. In the cave I said the first mass one
day at midnight, ' Domimis dixit ad me' etc.; on the
second day, ' Lux fulgebit in Aurora,' etc.; and on the
following day the third, 'In clara luce piier natns est.''
For God allowed me to remain so long a time in that place
that I was able to perform the aforesaid services. May I
be thankful to God therefor.

THE DEPARTURE OF THE PILGRIMS FROM EETHLEHEM,
AND THEIR ENTRANCE INTO JERUSALEM.

When we had finished our visit to Bethlehem, we
mounted our asses, and departed thence. When we were
come to the side of the town, lo ! a dead woman was being
carried out for burial, and all the Saracens, both men and
women, attended her with wondrous and horrible cries and
howls, and held their hands closed and clasped together
above their heads. When our guides saw them, they
understood what it was, and suddenly with shouts and
threats drove us aside out of the road, lest it should come
to pass that we and the mourners should meet together,
for we were marked with the sign of the cross, and had

BROTHER FELIX FABRI.

t>o5

we come against them wearing our crosses, the devil would
have stirred up a dreadful quarrel, for without doubt they
would have risen against us, and driven us away from
them with stones, out of respect for the dead woman. For
they think that their dead are especially angry with us,
and that our wandering about the Holy Land causes them
to be punished in the world to come. They would willingly
suffer us to dwell among them were it not that they say
that their dead cannot abide us. So we entered into
Jerusalem to rest, as I have said on page 176 b.

THE SECOND ENTRY OF THE PILGRIMS INTO THE LORD'S
SEPULCHRE, THE MAKING OF KNIGHTS THEREIN,
AND THE PRAISE OF THAT KNIGHTHOOD.

On the seventeenth day, which is that of St. Ahxius
the Confessor, on the evening before, when we had come
from Bethlehem, we were all called to the courtyard of the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre. So we made haste, and
came down to the church, where we found many Saracens
also, and merchants, but wc could find nothing eatable for
sale, as we had done before ; and at this we were vexed,
because we were tired with our journey, and had had but

' Wherever this figure is inserted, it means that Fabri and his com-
panions passed a night in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

6o5 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

little time for rest, and had come down thither faster than
we should otherwise have done, in the hope that we should
find food in the courtyard, which we could eat in the
church, but no one offered it. I know not how it came
to pass, or who managed, that the Saracen lords, guardians
of the church, should have proclaimed throughout the city
that no one was to bring food for the pilgrims. I thought
in my heart that perhaps this had been done at the
instance of the venerable Father Guardian to check the
unseemly behaviour of the pilgrims, some of whom would
sit all night eating and drinking in the church, like those
Corinthians whom the Apostle (i Cor. ii.) praises in all
things, save in that each of them presumed to eat his own
supper in church, and there was a difference among them,
for one was hungry and another was drunken. Even so
was it among the pilgrims, some of whom stuffed them-
selves with food, while others fasted ; and so it was a
virtuous precaution that no food should be forthcoming.

When we were all collected together, the Moorish lords
opened the doors of the holy church, and let us go in after
the fashion which is told on page io8 a. There entered
with us likewise the brethren of Mount Sion^ among whom
there entered with us that eminent man, John of Prussia,
of whom I have spoken before, who is the procurator of
the brethren of Mount Sion, and who is a secular in posi-
tion, but a regular (monk) in habit and life, for he of his
own choice makes use of the habit of the third order of
St. Francis — albeit, he hath not taken the vow to obey its
rule. This man is of noble birth, of a family of the rank
of count, and is a German of the country of Prussia. He
is of tall stature, with a long beard, and of a seemly
presence, with venerable gray hair. He is exceeding wise,
and of great experience, of quiet habits, conscientious,
and Godfearing. I give this good man this praise not

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 607

from hearsay, but from certain knowledge. He hath the
authority of our lord the Pope, and our lord the Emperor,
and the favour of the kings and princes of Christendoin,
for creating and dubbing knights all noble pilgrims who
come to the Holy Sepulchre of the Lord [b]. lie is,
moreover, known to the lord Soldan, who treats him ui.h
high respect. He is also respected by Nay Ion, who is
the governor of the city of Jerusalem, and Sabathytanco
and Elphahallo the Calini and dragomans all know and
reverence him ; wherefore to him the lords of the land
have granted leave to set the holy places in order with
drystonc walls and the like, save that he does not dare to
build walls (with mortar). This man has gained leave to
have the ruins of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and
of the church in Bethlehem, repaired, and he has such
authority in Jerusalem that even the Saracens and Jews
fear him, and children hide themselves from him. And
I declare of a truth that there are two men in Jerusalem,
aged and stricken in years, who are of exceeding use both
to the holy places and to the pilgrims, and I cannot
conceive how pilgrims will manage in Jerusalem after their
death. I should be very sorry to be a pilgrim in Jerusalem
if they were not there. One of these men is the aforesaid
Brother John. The other is Elphahallo, a Saracen, the lesser
Calinus, a good man, of whom I shall speak in his place.

Now, when the procession had been formed and had
been completed, and brought to an end in the manner
which is told on page iio«, the aforesaid Brother John,
at one hour before midnight, called together to him all
the noble pilgrims who wished to receive knighthood into
the church of Golgotha — that is to say, into the choir
where is the middle of the world, as is told on page 117 a,
and, having ranged the counts, barons, and nobles before
him, began to tell them of the laws of this knighthood.

€o8 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

In the first place he forbade that anyone should presume
to come to receive this knighthood unless he be proved
to be noble by four descents : of sufficient substance, just,
of good report, and not disgraced by any infamous mis-
demeanour. He declared that should any unfit person
present himself before him and be dubbed a knight, that
such dubbing would be invalid, and that such a man
ought not in any wise to be counted as a knight, but as a
mocker and insulter and scorner of nobility. Finally, he
charged them that they should draw near to receive their
knighthood in the fear of God and with reverence ; that
they should in all things obey the Pope and the Emperor,
by whose authority this honour was conferred upon them ;
that they should defend the Catholic Church, and maintain
its rights ; that they should protect and fight on behalf of
bishops, monks, all religious persons and ecclesiastics, their
lands and their goods ; that they should rule the common-
wealth peaceably, that they should deal justly with orphans,
widows, strangers, and the poor ; and that they should
console all faithful people in distress by affording them
help when called upon. Furthermore, he forbade them
to make any treaties whatsoever with the infidels, but
charged them to drive them as far away from Christendom
as possible, and, above all, to labour with all their strength
to the end that the Holy Land and the most Holy
Sepulchre might be torn from the hands of the infidels ;
and that they should urge upon all kings, princes, dukes,
counts, marquises, and other men of the sword, to come
as soon as they were able to succour the Holy Land, and
that they should stir up the minds of all men to help it,
and should make it their business with all diligence to set
forth to the faithful the piteous captivity of the Sepulchre,
and that they themselves should hold themselves in readi-
ness at all hours to set out to fight for the Holy Land.

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 609

[184 (i] After the brother had said all this and much
more, he entered into the little cabin of the Lord's monu-
ment, and all the nobles followed him, standing before
the door of the monument. He had the names of all the
nobles who wished to receive knighthood written down
according to their rank, and it was in this order that he
conferred knighthood upon them.

First, therefore, he called to him the noble Lord John,
Count of Solms, into the inner cave of the Lord's monu-
ment, wherein is the most holy tomb, and girded the sword
of knighthood upon his thigh, tied the spurs of knighthood
on his feet, and bade him bow himself down upon his
bended knees before the Lord's tomb in such sort that
his knees rested upon the pavement, and his breast and
arms lay upon the lid of the tomb. He being thus
kneeling, the aforesaid Brother John took from its sheath
the sword wherewith the count was girded, and with the
blade thereof smote him thrice upon the shoulders in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit. After this had been done he raised up the count,
loosed the sword and the spurs from him, kissed him, and
respectfully said: 'May it be for thy good.' He being
thus made a knight, the brother called a noble baron, my
Lord John Werner of Zimmern, and gave the sword and
the spurs to the count, that he might dub the baron knight,
which he did. After this there entered my Lord Heinrich,
Baron of Stoffel, whom the Baron John of Zimmern
dubbed knight. By the former my Lord John the Truchsess
was dubbed knight, and he dubbed knight my Lord Ursus
of Hohenrechberg, who came in after him. When these
had all received knighthood and had left the place the
other nobles also received their knighthood in turn accord-
ing to their rank. In my first pilgrimage Brother John
dubbed all the nobles knights with his own hand, because

39

6io THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

there were none who were above the rest in rank as nobles,
but all were equal. He did this because one equal doth
not dub his coequal a knight, even as one equal hath no
right or lordship over his coequal. But when princes,
marquises, counts, barons and nobles come thither, then
John first dubs the chief man among them himself, and
afterwards he dubs him that cometh next, and so on down
to the lowest in rank of the nobles, who beg to be dubbed
b> those lords whose squires they are, or to whose service
they especially belong. If, however, there be any devout
men who receive knighthood out of piety, and yet do not
wish to bear its ensigns in their own country, such men
are not dubbed by princes or by the rest of fellows, but
they offer themselves to Brother John. So at that hour
all the nobles were made knights, and every one of them
as he received knighthood made some considerable offering
to Brother John, each man, according to his means, giving
some ten ducats, some eight, some six, and some five for
the repair of the holy sepulchre and the church, and the
honour of the holy places, and the maintenance of the
brethren who watch over the holy sepulchre, and the
keeping alight of the lamps, and for other purposes for
which the aforesaid Brother John knows it to be needful.

[I;] THE PRAISE OF THE KNIGHTHOOD OF THE HOLY
SEPULCHRE, AND THE PRE-EMINENCE OF THOSE
KNIGHTS ABOVE ALL THE KNIGHTS IN THE WORLD.

From ancient times the high spirit of noblemen hath
not remained content with the provinces bequeathed by
their parents and ancestors, but hath been commonly wont
to busy itself in raising up fresh titles to grace their name.
Ancient historians tell us how Hannibal, the noblest of the
Africans, came from Carthage into the land of Italy, and
how by the might of his own valour he brought Rome

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 6ir

and many provinces under his own dominion. So also
Perseus Tacius {sic), the father of the nobility of Greece,
flew across the sea on a winged horse, entered Persia, and
conquered it. So also Alexander, who was powerful by
his wealth and great by his noble birth, passed through
the countries of the world and brought them all into
subjection to himself, and even then did not rest content,
but meditated extending the bounds of his empire beyond
this world ; and so we read of many others who have not
been contented with their own countries, and have gone
forth to do great deeds. Such men as these stay not for
rest, and give up no time to sleep, but toil in unceasing
struggles and mighty labours. Howbeit, to take examples
from the noblemen of modern times, let us behold the
glorious army of our pilgrim nobles now graced with the
order of knighthood, who, indeed, in their own cities, towns,
hamlets, castles, villages, and estates, might have overflowed
with riches, lived in luxury, quietly enjoyed their fiefs, and
taken part in merry games, been spectators of theatrical
shows, engaged in bold encounters, tiltings and tourneyings,
in hunting and dancing, or dwelt in peaceful devotion to
Ceres, Bacchus, and Venus. But they held it to be but
vain to follow indolence, and to be vicious to devote their
minds to the aforesaid pursuits ; wherefore, obeying their
reason, they with eager desire raised themselves to the
highest rank of knightly service, and that not of any
common knighthood, but of the most noble and excellent
which can be obtained in this world — that is, the Knight-
hood of the Holy Sepulchre, which is the best and noblest
of all knighthood. This can be proved by many argu-
ments, which are now given.

Firstly, because this knighthood is more holy, seeing
that it is received when in the act of a righteous service,
for it is received on the bended knees in the act of revering

39—2

6 12 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

the holy sepulchre, and there is no nobleman who says
that he came to Jerusalem chiefly on account of knighthood,
but chiefly on account of his veneration for the places
wherein our redemption was wrought — an act which
pertains to the service of God, an act of holy virtue.
Indeed, they say, and I have often heard it said byknights^
that if the holy places were not in Jerusalem they never
would cross the seas — no, not if they could obtain a
thousand knighthoods there ; but it is the holy places which
move them to journey thither, wherefore this knighthood
is more holy than any others.

Secondly, this knighthood is the most holy, because it is
conferred in the most holy place in all the world, in this
spot where our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

Thirdly, this knighthood is the most spiritual of all,
because it is only conferred upon those who are of a
contrite heart, who have confessed their sins, and have
been strengthened by the sacrament of the Eucharist in
a spiritual place by a spiritual person and humble friar.

Fourthly, it is the most virtuous of all, because this
knighthood is not alloyed with any vices. For other
knighthoods have jealousy, anger, envy, pride, and many
other vices connected with them, but this is in itself
altogether virtuous.

Fifthly, this knighthood is the most becoming of all.
For of a truth it is most becoming that a Christian,
desiring to become a knight, should receive knighthood
on that field whereon his King overcame His most power-
ful enemy. By ' Our King ' I mean Christ, and by ' field *
the place Golgotha, whereon he laid low the devil.

Sixthly, this Knighthood of the Holy Sepulchre is purer
and cleaner and more innocent than any other, for it is
not defiled with any human blood, like other orders of
knighthood, which as a rule are exceeding unclean, being:

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 613

given whenever a great shedding of human blood is at
hand. And, which is worse than all these, men gain
knighthood by the shedding of human Christian blood,
the blood of their brethren. Oh, accursed is that knight-
hood, and displeasing to God ! David, the holy king, was
not suffered to build the Temple of the Lord, because he
was a man of war, and had shed much human blood, as
we read in i Chron. xxii. 8. Yet it is to be noted,
that he only shed the blood of the uncircumcised and
infidels, and he shed their blood at the command of the
Lord God. If, then, the blood of idolaters could make
that holy man unclean, so that he could not build a temple,
what will the most noble blood of faithful Christians
do? — how great uncleanness will it cause in him who sheds
it! Doth it not render a knight defiled and unclean.^
Our innocent knighthood of Jerusalem is not thus stained
with Christian blood, but rather purifies the knight, that
Christian blood may be defended (by him) ; for they
receive knighthood in the place where the most innocent
blood of Christ was shed for all men. Wherefore they abhor
the shedding of any human blood, unless they be forced to
shed guilty blood in defence of the blood of Christ.

Seventhly, this knighthood is the most reasonable of all,
for reason dictates that there should be some among the
Christian people to defend the Faith with their swords, to
check iniquity with arms, and to compel the froward to come
in by force. This is the duty of the Knights of the Holy
Sepulchre, as hath been set forth already ; and no mention
is made of these duties when men receive knighthood in
other places.

Eighthly, this knighthood is the most kindly of all, for
men are not created knights at Jerusalem to anyone's
hurt. Other knights are created to fight their enemies,
and to work another's hurt in divers ways.

6i4 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

Ninthly, this knighthood is the most toilsome of all.
For who can describe the labours of a Knight of the Holy-
Sepulchre, which he undergoes not in order to win his
knighthood, but for the honour of God and the salvation
of his soul ?

Tenthly, this knighthood is the most dangerous of all,
for toil without danger is but little valued, but a little toil
with much labour is thought to be a great thing. Now,
both of these are to be found in our knighthood, both
great toil and great danger, as the whole story of my
wanderings proves.

Eleventhly, this knighthood of ours is the most painful
of all, for it is gained [d] through many miseries and much
tribulation, even though the pilgrim hath his purse full of
money.

Twelfthly, this knighthood of Jerusalem is wiser,
because of the various experiences which a man under-
goeth therein. A nobleman who sets out for Jerusalem
gains much experience about the way of the world at
sea and on either side of the sea, about the customs of
men and their differences ; for he receives knowledge both
of the faithful and of infidels, because he sees and dwells
with Christians, Turks, Saracens, Mamelukes, Tartars,
Arabs, Jews, Samaritans, Moors, Greeks, Nubians, Jacobites,
Abyssinians or Indians, Georgians, Armenians, Hungarians,
Dalmatians, Pannonians, Achaeans, Italians, Gauls, Angles,
Teutons, and, in short, he gains knowledge about men
of all lands, both Eastern and Western, if he be a man
uf reflection. Moreover, he who would gain this noble
knighthood learns by experience who is a friend and who
is an enemy ; he learns to distinguish between liars and
honest men ; he finds out the difference between what is
well and what is ill ; and discovers what is meant by good
fortune and bad fortune, by virtue and \.C3; and how

BROTHER FELIX FABRL 615

great the difference is between a good and a bad man.
He likewise receives an experience worth more than all
the aforesaid, in that while on this pilgrimage a man
begins to know himself intimately, and to understand his
own wisdom and folly, his various passions and desires,
his likes and dislikes, his virtues and vices. I say of a
truth, that in forty weeks of this pilgrimage a man learns
to know himself better than in forty years elsewhere. I
confess that I never saw my own shortcomings and vices
better or more clearly than during these my wanderings,
more especiall}'' when at sea in the galley, or in the desert
in a tent, for in these places no part of r man's character
remains concealed. I am sure that my comrades and my
noble lords know me and all my habits better than the
brethren of my order, with whom I have dwelt for thirty
years, and that I know those knights better than their
wives, their parents, their sons, or their servants do. For
in these hardships and adventures of pilgrims no one can
keep to himself, but all his secret thoughts are shown in
deeds in their turn, for there is continual action to call
them forth. Other knights, such as are dubbed in the
courts of kings, or on the bridge of Tiber, or on the battle-
field, receive few experiences.

Thirteenthly, our knighthood is more worthy than
others, because Knights of the Holy Sepulchre are given
the first place by all men, both spiritual and temporal.

Fourtecnthly, it is of greater power and greater authority
than others, because it is conferred by the authority of
our most holy father the Pope, and our most serene lord
the Emperor, whereas other men are sometimes created
knights in defiance of the Pope, and in defiance of the
Emperor, or apart from them, and without their sanction
and knowledge ; wherefore they are of no authority.

Fifteenthly, our knighthood is more noble than any

6i6 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

other, and ennobles other knighthoods, whereas the con-
verse is not true. I have seen many who had been made
knights by the Emperor, and on the battle-field, and who
nevertheless did not care to bear the ensigns of their
knighthood until [i86 a] they were dubbed knights in
the holy sepulchre. I know one nobleman, whom the
Emperor dubbed a knight at one battle, and the King of
Hungary at another, and the King of Bohemia at a third,
who nevertheless always gave himself out as a simple
nobleman, until he was dubbed knight for the fourth time
in the Lord's sepulchre, after which he came home, and
displayed the ensigns of knighthood, and is at this day
a magnificent knight, who rides with many followers.

Sixteenthly, our knighthood is the most admirable of
all, for all men feel some sort of admiration for a Knight
of the Holy Sepulchre, because he hath received his knight-
hood in the midst of infidel Saracens, and in the Lord's
sepulchre.

Seventeenthly, this knighthood is the most worshipful,
for Knights of the Holy Sepulchre have precedence of all
others in walking, standing, sitting, speaking, washing of
hands, eating, and so forth.

Eighteenthly, our knighthood is the most distinguished
of all, for whensoever a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre
begins to speak of his knighthood, of the place thereof,
and of the adventures which befell him, all men fix their
eyes upon him, and with open mouths listen to what he
saith.

Nineteenthly, our knighthood is the most acceptable
of all, for Knights of the Holy Sepulchre are acceptable
both to nobles and commons, whereas they care but little
for other knights — nay, abhor them for cruel, savage, and
terrible men.

Twentiethly, our knighthood is the most manly of all,

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 6i7

for it is a small thing to have once broken through the
line of the enemy, or to have looked the foe in the face,
but it is much to have frequently been in deadly peril, as
is the case in our knighthood.

Twenty-firstly, this knighthood is more active than any
other, because it needs a man of valour all round.

Twenty -secondly, our knighthood is more righteous
than any other, for all other knighthoods have certain
injustices and wickednesses connected with them, whereas
this is founded upon justice, both human and Divine,
and is regulated by laws made by the Emperor and the
Pope.

Twenty-thirdly, our knighthood is more approved and
established than any other, for it frequently happens that
those who are made knights in one place are not recognised
as knights by others, but are laughed at, and called lady-
knights, and pussy-cat knights ; and in war neither party
recognises as knights those who have been dubbed by the
other side to fight against it. Now, there is nothing of
all this in our knighthood, but all arc recognised as
knights.

Tvventy-fourthly, our knighthood is the most ancient
of all, for ever since the Passion of Christ those who have
crossed the seas out of devotion to the holy places have
been held to be knights.

Twenty-fifthly, this knighthood is more to be desired
than any other, which is proved by the fact that those who
have been dubbed knights elsewhere do not remain content
therewith, but covet our knighthood in addition to that
which they have received. Moreover, a Knight of the
Holy Sepulchre glows with so warm a love thereto that
he longs to return to the place where he received his
knighthood ; indeed, those who have been in the Holy
Land usually wish to return thither, nor can any perili

6i8 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

restrain them. This is not so in other orders of knight-
hood.

Twenty-sixthly, our knighthood is the most strict in
its rules, for the ancient rule of this knighthood was, that
no one should receive it unless he were noble by four
descents, and illustrious in all his family [d]. Howbeit,
this rule is not strictly observed at the present day, but
base-born men are dubbed knights as well as nobles, even
as in other orders of knighthood.

Tvventy-seventhly, our knighthood is the most humble
and long-suffering of all. Other knights do not deign to
consort with plain men who are not of noble birth, and
grudge any good fortune which befalls their inferiors.
Not so the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, who despise
no man, suffer all men to travel in their company, and
reject none ; for they sail across the sea to Jerusalem in
company with monks, priests, merchants, mechanics, and
poor beggars — nay, they even cross in company with
women, both young and old, with Beguines and nuns, and
heed not the foolish sneers of their detractors, who say
that the Knighthood of the Holy Sepulchre is womanish,
because of the old women in whose company it is gained.
They are not ashamed of the society of these old women
— nay, they delight therein, and take credit to themselves
for receiving their temporal knighthood in the place where
nuns, Beguines, and old women, monks and priests, and
all manner of devout persons seek for help in their spiritual
warfare, and for increase of the grace of God.

Twenty-eighthly, our knighthood is the hardest of all,
for at the courts of kings and princes and on battle-fields
knighthood is conferred with somewhat of triumph and
rejoicing, and brings with it sundry advantages, whereas
this is all grave and penitential, bearing with it no joys or
advantages, but much tribulation.

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 619

Twenty - ninthly, this knighthood demands greater
courage than any other, for he who boldly crosses the sea
risks his life more than he who goes to the wars, for this
latter goes protected by armour, and can guard himself
against dangers, and in the last resort can flee and seek
shelter, whereas the Knight of the Holy Sepulchre has no
help of this sort against the dangers which beset him both
by sea and by land ; for when among the infidels he must
bear himself as though he had no feelings, and make no
return to those who strike him, so that he might truly say,
as it is written in the Book of Proverbs, xxiii. 35, ' They
have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick ; they
have beaten me, and I felt it not' See page yy b.

Thirticthly, this knighthood is more distant than any
other, being given in the middle of the world ; and those
knights who go to St. Catharine's touch the three principal
parts of the world — Europe, whence they go forth ; Asia,
which they pass through ; and Africa, which they touch
in the parts rbout Alexandria. Other knights stay near
home for their service.

Thirty-firstly, our knighthood is the most equal and
uniform, for other knights, even when dubbed in the same
war, boast themselves, and one exalts himself before
another, and some are preferred before others by men as
being better knights, and having deserved the honour of
knighthood better than they, and ofttimes in kings' courts
they quarrel terribly with one another about these matters ;
now our knighthood of Jerusalem is free from all these
squabbles and ignoble boastings, because all earn it by the
same means, and a nobleman who is created a knight
is no less a knight than is a king who is dubbed there.

Thirty-secondly, this knighthood of ours is universal, in
that all noblemen are dubbed there, whether they be from
the East or the West, old or young.

620 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

Thirty - thirdly, this knighthood of ours is the least
perilous to the soul, seeing that all that is done at
Jerusalem is righteous and sacred, which is far from being
the case with others.

Thirty-fourthly, it is honourable to all men, for these
knights are honoured by the Emperor, by kings, princes,
counts^ and barons, and likewise by the Pope, by cardinals,
bishops, and all the clergy and religious, by the common
people, by old and young alike.

Thirty-fifthly, our knighthood is of higher price than
the others, seeing that it is gained for a greater price, and
with much expense, especially if the knight makes the
pilgrimage to St. Catharine's. And although in other
knighthoods more money may be spent, yet it is spent in
vain, or in worldly pomps and vanities, or in extravagance,
none of which finds any place in our knighthood.

Thirty-sixthly, our knighthood is better disciplined than
any other, for we commonly see that Knights of the Holy
Sepulchre are more modest and orderly, more serious and
better bred than knights made in the wars.

Thirty-seventhly, our knighthood is the most fruitful in
many ways and fashions, for in our knighthood a knight
even though without books studies many of the things
done in both the Old and the New Testament while he
is being taken round the holy places. Hence it comes to
pass that these knights as a general rule speak more often,
more distinctly, and with greater knowledge, about the
histories to be found in the Bible, about the Lord's Passion,
and so forth, than many priests. This is set forth on
pige g a. A knight in the Holy Land is made wise by
many experiences, as is set forth in the twenty-seventh
article ; moreover, he is rendered contrite there, he con-
fesses his sins, and receives indulgences in abundance,
from all of which much fruit results in all things.

BROTHER FELIX FABRL 621

Thirty-eighthly, our knighthood is the most faithful of
all, because as a rule Knights of the Holy Sepulchre are
exceeding steadfast, and good catholics, for they see with
their eyes that our faith is more reasonable and more
righteous than that of any others, whereas in other orders
of knighthood no heed is taken of this aforesaid faith.

Thirty-ninthly, it is clear from all that hath been said
that our knighthood is more deserving of eternal life than
any other, whereas other knights not only do not earn
this life, but render themselves unfit for it, since as a
rule sinful acts are needed to obtain their knighthood.

Fortiethly, and lastly, our knighthood of Jerusalem is
a happy knighthood, for a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre
is, indeed, happy while on a pilgrimage, because, should he
die on the way, he flies to heaven straightway, and does
not enter purgatory. On this point see St. Thomas
Aquinas, in Ou. v., Ou. vii., 7. ar. 2. Moreover, like as he
is happy who beholds God in the heavenly Jerusalem
which is above, so also in his own way he is happy who
imitates the mysteries of heaven in the Jerusalem upon
earth. And as he is happy who beholdeth Christ in glory,
and the most blessed Virgin Mary, the patriarchs, prophets,
and apostles, even so he is happy who retraces and kisses
the footsteps of Christ and the blessed Virgin, of the
prophets and the apostles. Furthermore, as he is happy
who hath a sure and certain hope of happiness, even so he
who beholdeth the earthly Jerusalem is happy, for it is
written that they who for the glory of God have visited
and beheld the holy city of Jerusalem shall certainly and
without doubt enter the heavenly Jerusalem, and shall
there behold in His majesty the King whom they have
sought in the manger, on the cross, and in the sepulchre
in the Jerusalem upon earth. What the truth of this
saying may be I know not ; nevertheless, I hope. By all

622 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

these arguments the pre-eminence of the Knights of the
Holy Sepulchre above all other is proved. St. Bernard
wrote a long sermon addressed to these knights of
Jerusalem, wherein he describes their knightly life and
conversation, and reprobates the vices of carnal knights
in the fourth chapter thereof.

THE DIVINE SERVICE HELD THAT NIGHT IN THE HOLY

SEPULCHRE.

The creation or dubbing of knights in the Lord's
Sepulchre is performed in the manner set forth on page
184 3. Now, it took a long time before they were all
dubbed, and we could not celebrate masses before the
dubbing was over ; howbeit, we all watched and roamed
round the holy places with lights. Indeed, I had arranged
that on that night my watching and fasting, and my prayers
and devotions which, alas ! were lukewarm, wearisome,
and almost useless, should be given on behalf of those to
whom I had promised that I would remember them when
I was at the holy places, and on behalf of my most beloved
brethren and my benefactors, who had held out helping
hands to me by subscribing toward my expenses in
journeying to these most holy places. So during the time
that the knights were being dubbed I went up to the holy
hill of Calvary, lighted a candle, and sat down with ink
in front of me close by the most holy rock wherein the
cross once stood bearing Him crucified, and there I wrote
down the names of all whom I had especially promised,
and all for whom I was in duty bound to pray. Having
written down all the names as in litanies, I went with the
paper to the holy rock, and there, kneeling on my knees,
I laid the paper on the holy rock, and offered a prayer for
each person whose name was written thereon, and for
others whose names occurred to my memory, with such

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 623

poor measure of devotion as God was graciously pleased
to grant to me a most miserable sinner, beseeching God
that by virtue of that most efficacious prayer once offered
at that place on the cross He might be pleased to accept
this my imperfect prayer, if not because of my own
merits^ then at any rate because of the merits of those
persons, both quick and dead, for whom I had agreed to
pray. After this I went down to the other holy places
with the paper and spread it out upon those most holy
places, praying for those whose names were written therein
both generally and one by one.

Midnight was now past, and as the business of the
knights was over we began to say masses in the four
places mentioned on page no under article vi. On that
morning I had the place of the Lord's anointing, and at
mass I kept the paper with the names of my dear ones
lying before me, and performed the mass itself on their
behalf. When day broke we sang high mass in the
sepulchre of the Lord's resurrection, as will be seen below,
page 1^0 b {sic), and so ended this service.

Now, when everything was finished, and we were waiting
for the Moorish lords to let us out, lo! of a sudden strife
and quarrelling arose among the newly-made knights, and
a serious riot, caused by one of the pilgrims having thrust
himself in and been dubbed a knight, albeit he w-as for
many reasons unfit; indeed, he was a good and merry
comrade, but of too low estate to bear the dignity of
knighthood. The pilgrim knights, counts, and barons
reproved this man for his over-boldness, while other knights
his comrades defended him, and so they stood wrangling
with one another in the holy church. Howbeit, when the
cause was explained to Brother John, who has been
mentioned on page 183 b, he summoned all the knights
into the church of Golgotha before the high altar, and

624 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

adjured him on whose account the strife had arisen, and
all his companions, in the name of God, that they should
tell him the rank and position of that man. After he had
heard- them the aforesaid Brother John pronounced that
he was in no wise a knight, nor to be held as such. So
this matter was [i88 a] settled and ended peaceably, and
that good fellow was stripped of his knighthood. Now,
straightway while we were still speaking of this matter
the Moors came and turned us out of the church, and we
went to our own quarters to eat and rest. On this occasion
I did not go up to Mount Sion with the brethren, but was
begged by the newly-made knights my lords to stay with
them that day in the hospital and preach a sermon to
them in praise of the holy knighthood, which I did in
manner following, albeit in the vulgar German tongue,
seeing that they were laymen and ignorant of Latin.

AN EXHORTATION TO THE KNIGHTS TO PERFORM

THAT TO ^YHICH THEY HAD PLEDGED THEMSELVES

WHEN THEY RECEIVED KNIGHTHOOD IN THE HOLY

SEPULCHRE.

Devout zeal and love towards Almighty God hath

stirred you up, my most worthy knights, so that, like the

great-hearted gentlemen that you are, you have been

attracted towards your Redeemer's grave, and made to

think it a pleasant thing that you should hazard the loss

of your own possessions by leaving the country of your

birth to seek these foreign and holy lands. Herein you

have been moved by your pious intention of worshipping

and kissing these most holy places, of receiving indulgences,

and taking upon yourselves the sacrament of knighthood,

to the end that in that holy service you may faithfully

fight until death against the enemies of the faith, the

contemners of the cross, and the foes of the church of

BROTHER FELIX FABRI.

God. Wherefore, I pray and beseech you, abide steadfast
in this your pious intention, and whereas you have brought
your souls into divers perils to the end that you might
obtain this knighthood, now manfully devote them to
carrying it out, strive with your whole strength to fulfil
all those promises which you made when you undertook
to be knights, and day by day renew this spirit within
your minds, that you may ever be clothed with the new
man, who is created according to God's will, and be pro-
tected by the whole armour of God, whereby you may
stand fast against the wiles of the devil. Let your hearts,
i pray you, be kindled like fires with zeal for those things
which are of God, more especially to succour the necessities
of the Lord's sepulchre and of this Holy Land ; let your
affections be inflamed by the heat of pious thoughts, and
fight the battle of the Lord with the hope of succour
from on high. Let every one of you gird his mighty
sword upon his thigh to avenge the wrongs offered to God.
Lo ! your eyes behold at the present time how the goodly
heritage of our Saviour, alas ! hath fallen among strangers,
and how the most holy place where the Virgin mother
bore the King of Heaven, the place stained with our
Redeemer's most precious blood, the place which hath
been honoured by the laying therein of the foundation of
the Lord's sepulchre, and the place which Christ, risen
from the dead, hath in manifold ways rendered famous
by the glory of His resurrection, hath been brought under
the sway of strange peoples. Unless his breast were of
iron or his heart of adamant, who is there whose bowels
would not yearn for this land } Who would not be roused
from the bottom of his heart .-• Who would not be k'ndled
into wrath and be inspired to courage, that he might wreak
the vengeance which is due ? God forbid that a soldier
•of the holy sepulchre should leave his arms for the rust

40

62S THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

to eat. God forbid that he should grudge his Hfe to the
victory, seeing that the victors cannot fail of winning the
crown of glory ; for look you how safely and how blessedly
the soldiers of Christ fight the battles of their Lord and of
His bride, the Church, when they take arms against the
infidels, seeing that they need not either fear to sin in
slaying the enemy, or to suffer peril by their own death,
since death ought both to be given and taken for Christ's
sake. Such a knight, I say, both slays his foe without sin^
and dies with certain hope, because he gains a grave for
himself when he dies, and for Christ when he slays, nor is
he a homicide, but, if I may so speak, a malicide when he
slays an evildoer, and is held to be a defender and vindi-
cator of Christendom. A Christian rightfully glories in
the death of a pagan, because Christ is glorified therein.
Wherefore rouse yourselves, most valiant knights, and rise
up to avenge the insults offered to our God and the shame
of the people of Christendom, even as did those most
doughty Maccabees of old, and make it your aim to slay or
put to flight the infidels, and bring back the heritage of the
Lord into Christendom. Every man avenges wrongs done
to his own vassals, and shall he not avenge such foul wrong
as these when done to his God .-• No one suffers the hands
of trespassers to be laid upon the heritage of his own
family, and shall he patiently suffer the heritage of the
Lord to be held for so long a time by strangers ? Let not
those who worship the cross overlook outrages offered to
Him crucified, which they would rightly resent if offered
to a man. Let the contempt cast upon your Redeemer
stir up your minds and souls ; let zeal for His faith kindle
your hearts, and God forbid that fear should hold you back
from this glorious fight wherein victory and a crown of
everlasting glory is always to be won.

Here ended the sermon. After I had finished the

BROTHER FELIX FADRI. 627

sermon the knights thanked me very warmly, and de-
clared that they were as willing as possible to recover the
Holy Land, provided that the kings, princes, and leaders
of Christendom would go before them burning with the
same zeal, seeing that unless they bestirred themselves no
one could make any useful movement in the matter,
because so great a thing could only be done by all the
peoples of the West together ; even as when in the year
of our Lord 802 the Emperor Charles the Great, at the
invitation of Zacharias, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and of
the Emperor of Constantinople, marched into the East
with all the people of the West, and rescued the Holy City
and all the land from the hands of the infidel Saracens.
When they were lost a second time, and reoccupied by the
Saracens, the Christians were cast out and exiled from the
Holy Land for more than two hundred years ; after which
arose the never wearied and most glorious Duke of Lorraine,
Godfrey of Bouillon, in the year of our Lord 1099, who
collected together chosen warriors from all the West, fear-
lessly crossed both sea and land, and after great slaughter
of the infidels reached Jerusalem, wherein were forty
thousand armed Saracens, besides the common people.
Our soldiers besieged the city for thirty-nine days, and
when they took it the Christians fought with the infidels in
what is called * Solomon's Temple,' and its courtyards,
revelling in slaughter to such a degree that they rode knee-
deep in the blood of the slain. Thus by means of those
most glorious knights [189 a] the sepulchre of the Lord
came for the second time into the hands of its rightful
owners, and remained with them for ninety-eight years,
when at length, as help from the Western countries failed,
and God was angry with Christian people for their sins, as
hath been set forth on page 189 a, Jerusalem was agair^
taken by the infidels, and continues to be held by them

40 — 2

628 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

even to this day, now for three hundred years down to
this our own unhappy time. Well may I call this time of
ours unhappy, wherein the evening of faith hath drawn in
upon the world, and the chaos and night of wickedness
abounds. The light of righteousness is waning ; scarce a
shadow of its shade remains. Law hath departed from
the priests, justice from princes, counsel from elders, faith
from the people, love from parents, respect from servants,
charity from prelates, religion from monks, honour from
youth, discipline from the clergy, learning from teachers,
study from laymen, equity from judges, defence from
knights, concord from citizens, fear from serving men,
fellowship from rustics, truth from merchants, virtue from
nobles, chastity from maidens, lowliness from widows, love
from wedded folk, modesty from women, patience from
the poor, and so forth. So we wander blindly away from
the true path, and headlong course through caverns of
wickedness and the fields of the world, in foul darkness.
Oh, how uncertain is the state of human affairs, and with-
out Thee, O good God, how full of calamity are all the
days of our life ! O evil times and evil manners ! Times
of exceeding great disquiet ! times of disaster ! Wicked
manners, abandoned manners, both among clergy and
people ! Time whereof it hath been said, Venzi suinnia
dies et in eluctabile tempus /* — time wherein, according to
the old saying of the prophet, every head shall be weary,
every heart shall be grieved, and from the sole of the foot
to the crown of the head there shall be no health in it. It
is, then, for our sins and for the iniquities of our forefathers
that Jerusalem and the (blessed) land and the holy places,
made subject to strange nations for our shame, are dis-
honoured and trodden underfoot by dogs, and lo ! now for
three hundred years have been profaned by traitors, and to

» Virg., ^n., ii. 324.

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 629

the disgrace of the most holy name of Christ remain in
the power of the accursed and blasphemous Saracens,
altogether uncared for and neglected by us, and filled with
great heresies and evils, doubtless because of our trans-
gressions and negligences. Nor is it merely the duty of
every devout Christian to nwurn when he thinks of these
misfortunes, but to betake himself to God with continual
prayer, to cry aloud to God, and to beseech Him without
ceasing that He may have compassion upon the remnant of
His elect, and may lift up the light of His countenance upon
us and pity us, and cast out the unbelievers from the land
of the faithful, that we may joyfully render unto Him the
praises which He hath deserved at our hands. Amen.

Whosoever will read a sorrowful sermon upon the deso-
late state of the Holy Land and the city of Jerusalem, a
piteous mourning over the Eastern Church, a sad lamenta-
tion over the vicious and most unhappy position of the
Western Church, and an exhortation addressed to the
kings, princes, and nobles of the West, let him look at
the book of the pilgrimage of the Lord Bernhard von
Braitenbach, dean of the cathedral church at Mainz, which
hath been written in ornate style by that celebrated
doctor of divinity, Master Martin Roth, regent of the
school of Heidelberg, and monk of the Order of Preaching
Friars. There he will find clearly set forth all that I have
said before ; he will find what I have expressed in many
words put into few, and will find a duplicate of my book
of pilgrimage and wandering, with the exception that
sometimes I have been forced by the plan of my work
purposely to alter the days, saying, ' This was done on
such a day,' whereas he says that it was done on another
day ; wherein there is no violence or discrepancy, seeing
that when we read the Scriptures we find the same thing
to have been done by the Evangelists.

630 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

OF THE DIVINE SERVICE IN THE CHURCH OF THE
HOLY SEPULCHRE, AND THE CASTING OUT OF
THE PILGRIMS FROM THENCE.

[/^] Meanwhile, as the knights had been dubbed, we
began to celebrate and perform divine service. I was
■given the place of the Lord's anointing, and celebrated the
mass of St. Alexius, whose festival it was, because he was a
true pilgrim ; and when it was broad daylight, we sang in
the Lord's sepulchre a most joyous service of the Lord's
Resurrection, as it is sung on Easter Day. After this the
Saracens came and turned us out in the manner which is
told on page 21 b, and every man went home to his own
place ; and we passed the following night on the Mount of
Olives, but secretly, praying and resting ourselves in the
grotto of Mary's agony ; but before it was bright dayligh*--
we went up again to Mount Sion to hear masses.

THE JOURNEY OF THE PILGRIMS FROM JERUSALEM INTO
THE HILL-COUNTRY OF JUD^A, TO THE HOUSE OF
ZACHARIAH, WHERE MARY GREETED HER KINS-
WOMAN ELIZABETH.

On the eighteenth day, early in the morning, our guides
came to the Mount with our asses and their drivers, and
called together all the pilgrims. We all mounted our
asses, rode out of Jerusalem to the southward in a great
hurry, and went by steep roads into the hill-country of
Judaea. This mountainous country is rough and stony,
but yet is fruitful, and full of fruit-trees, figs and olives.
Herein we came to a house standing on high ground, great
and tall, but in ruins, which they say was the house of the
holy old man Simeon, who took up Christ in his arms in
the Temple of the Lord (Luke ii.). This house hath many
vaulted chambers, and from the top of it there is a view of

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. C31

Jerusalem and of Bethlehem. Beside this house we sang
the hymn of Simeon, * Lord, now lettest thou thy servant,'
etc., and received indulgences (f). From hence we went
down into an exceeding fertile valley to a sloping place
between dry stone walls. It was upon this mountain that
the valiant Maccabees built an exceeding strong fortress to
drive back the invading Gentiles, and called it Bethsura,
which means the * bitter house,' or ' the house of courage,'
whereof we read in i Maccabees, chs.iv. and vi. This fortress
was taken by stratagem by the younger Antiochus, who
from thence greatly annoyed the Jews, as is told in the
second book of Maccabees, chs. xi. and xiii.

On another side of the mountain is the well wherein
Philip baptized the eunuch, as will be told in its place.

From Bethsura there is a view of Jerusalem, and in time
of war they who dwelt in Bethsura could make signals to
them who were in the citadel of Sion, and they back again.
So now we turned our backs to Bethsura and went down
the valley.

THE FOUNTAIN OF THE MOST BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

After a pretty long descent we came to a place between
two little hills, where in the midst of them a fountain
gushes forth with cool, clear, and wholesome waters, which
runs through the whole valley, moistening it and render-
ing it fertile, so that it is of great use to that country.
They say that it was through the merits of the blessed
Virgin Mary that this fountain first sprang forth in her
presence when she came up from Nazareth and served
Elizabeth for three months. The blessed Virgin wished to
get water to carry it to Elizabeth, who was pregnant, for use
both in the upper and the lower house ; for Zacharias was
a rich priest, and had a farm in that place, with gardens of
olive-trees, fig-trees, and vineyards, and he had a house on

632 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

each of the little hills, and servants to wait upon him and
to feed his cattle ; so he used to live now in one of these
houses, and now in the other, according to the time of year,
and the fountain stood in the midst, and was used by both
of the houses. Now, at the time when the blessed Virgin
came to greet and to serve Elizabeth, they were dwelling
in the house which stood on the lower ground ; but when
the time came for her to bear John the Baptist, Elizabeth
herself went up to the upper house, taking with her the
blessed Virgin, her midwives and her maidservants ; but
* Zacharias stayed in the lower house with the men and the
menservants ; for in the days of old men did not dwell in
the house of pregnant women at the time of their child-
bed.

THE PLACE WHERE ELIZABETH WAS GREETED BY THE

BLESSED VIRGIN.

So, after we had drunk of the fountain of the blessed
Virgin, we went on still with fasting stomachs to our left to-
wards the first, or lower house of Zacharias. When we came
to it, we found it fast shut. We knocked with stones, clubs
and staves, but no one answered us. The young Saracens
began to walk round about the house, searching for a
place where they could climb the wall, and so open the
door to us. Howbeit, there was after all a Saracen within
the house, a beast rather than a man, who had pretended
that he did not hear us, but who, when he saw the young
Saracens who accompanied us searching for another way to
get in, came down to the door and threw it open. He
then stood in the doorway with a club, and his wife with a
firebrand, and they took care that no one should come in
before some money was given to them ; when it was given,
he laid aside his rage and allowed us to enter. Straightway,
as we began to enter, the precentor began to sing in a loud

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 633

voice the song of the most blessed Virgin Mary, * Jl/ag--
nificat anima inca' etc., and singing thus we came to the
place where the Virgin Mary saluted Elizabeth, where
John leaped for joy within her womb, where Elizabeth
returned her greeting and prophesied, and Mary sang that
sweetest of songs, full of the deepest mystery, every word
of which is pregnant with some mighty meaning. In this
place we fell on our knees in prayer and received plenary
indulgences (ft). Indeed, we felt singular joy in this
place with the blessed Virgin Mary, who here by her greet-
ing and sweet song openly published abroad the ineffable
joy which through the greeting of the angel she had
hitherto borne hidden and concealed in the depths of her
heart. Moreover, both the children leaped and rejoiced in
their mother's womb at the meeting of their mothers, even
as also the two mothers were filled with unwonted glad-
ness. In the heart of the most blessed Virgin Mary all the
joy which she had received from the greeting of the angel
was in this place renewed and, as it were, completed ; nay,
if we may venture so to speak, she seems to have had a
greater joy in this place : for when the angel greeted her
at Nazareth, he said : ' Hail, thou that art full of grace, the
Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women '; but
Elizabeth cried aloud, ' Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.' Now, we [(5] know
that the most blessed Virgin Mary loved the fruit of her
womb incomparably more than she loved herself, and re-
joiced more in His honour than in her own. The angel did
but call her blessed, but Elizabeth proclaimed both her
and the fruit of her womb to be blessed, and hereby in-
creased the joy of the Virgin. For this reason we do not
read that the blessed Virgin sang her song of gladness in
answer to the greeting of the angel, but in answer to the
greeting of Elizabeth she said with joy, ' My soul doth

634 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced/ etc. It
was therefore in this place that the greeting of the angel
was finished and made perfect ; and so we pilgrims re-
ceived on this spot all the joy which we should have felt at
Nazareth, whither we were unable to go, and in the words
both of the angel and of Elizabeth we many times repeated
Ave Maria, giving kisses to the Virgin even as Elizabeth
greeted her and also kissed her. For the devout Bernhard
says, ' It is as a kiss to thee, O Mary, to hear this angel's
verse, Ave Maria, and thou art kissed as often as thou art
greeted with an Ave! In truth, at this greeting the
heavens drop sweetness, the stars laugh, the angels rejoice,
the world exults, the devils tremble, the powers of hell
wither away, just men are glad, sinners gain hope. Hence
among many men the custom has grown up of adding Ave
Maria to the Lord's Prayer, wherever it occurs, even in
the canonical hours ; yet others say that this ought not to
be done, because in the ordinaries and notes and rubrics
there is no mention made of the Ave Maria when the
Paternoster is appointed to be said.

Upon this subject I have heard that a dispute once arose
between the abbots and canons of the church of Batavia (j-zVr).
The abbot wished always to have the Ave Maria added to
the Paternoster, but the canons and clergy refused to do
so, alleging that it was not appointed for them by the
rubrics. At last, for the sake of peace and concord, the
matter was laid before the Pope, who decided in the
abbot's favour, on the affirmative side of the question, and
ordained by a bull that Ave Maria should be said after
Pater Noster.

It is only in our own time that an end has been put to
the ancient custom of the saints, who used to pray to God
with five Paternosters, and to salute the most blessed
Virgin Mary with fifty Ave Marias frequently in the course

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 635

of their thanksgivings for the works of our redemption.
This wholesome custom, which had almost fallen into
disuse in our parts, has with great labour been renewed by
that excellent doctor of divinity, Master James Sprenger,
of the Order of Preaching Friars, and of the (Dominican)
convent of Cologne. This master and I were, so to speak,
foster children, having both taken the religious habit in the
convent at Basle in the same year, and after a year had
passed, having made our profession in the same schools,
been trained under the same masters, and at this day we
are intimate friends. My only reason for telling this is
because I know that this venerable master hath been from
his youth devoted to the Virgin Mary, and from his youth
up until this present hath never ceased to magnify and
extend the praises of the most glorious Virgin Mary.
[191 d\ He busied himself with the Holy Apostolic See
about a bull of indulgences, and obtained one, wherein the
Hoi}'- Lord, Pope Sixtus IV., granted great indulgences to
all who say the aforesaid number of Paternosters and Ave
Marias thrice a week. They called this prayer the
* Rosary of the blessed Virgin.' I have seen this bull, have
read it through, and have made a copy of it. Some people
repeat the aforesaid prayer thrice every day, and call it the
' Psalter of the blessed Mary,' and for them great in-
dulgences are thereby obtained, once in life, and once in
death. It is called a 'psalter' because, like as David's
psalter hath three fifties, even so hath this. The first fifty
is appointed for a thanksgiving for the incarnation and
childhood of Christ ; the second for His passion ; and the
third for His glorification. Others add yet another fifty, and
repeat twenty Paternosters and two hundred Ave Marias
every day ; for they declare that the Book of Psalms is
imperfect unless after the Psalm Latidate dominuvi dc
ccelis be added the canticles of the New and Old Testa-

636 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

ments, and the hymns ; wherefore they add a fourth fifty
for the canticles and hymns, that the psalter may be per-
fect. They give another reason for saying four fifties,
namely, that it is no less fitting to bless the holy Virgin
and the fruit of her womb for the most virtuous and perfect
life of God, than for His incarnation. His death, and His
glorification ; wherefore, in saying the first fifty they con-
template Christ's incarnation and childhood; in the second
His works and life ; in the third His passion and death ;
in the fourth His resurrection and the glorification of Him-
self, of His mother, and of ourselves. Moreover, that this
prayer may be more regular and less tedious, they have
appointed each Paternoster, with its ten Ave Marias, to be
a thanksgiving for some especial blessing which they have
in their minds ; as, for example, they repeat the first
Paternoster, with its ten Ave Marias, as a thanksgiving for
the blessing of the incarnation ; the second Paternoster^
with its ten Ave Marias, for the blessing of the nativity,
the third for the blessing of the circumcision and the
honour of the Name of Jesus ; the fourth for the offering
of the kings ; the fifth for the blessing of the purification,
because He was presented in the temple in the likeness of a
sinner, and His mother was purified as though she were
unclean : also for the flight to Egypt and the return from
thence, and His humble attendance at school, and His
obedience to His parents ; and this is the first fifty. They
arrange the second as follows : they say the first Pater-
noster, with its ten Ave Marias, for the blessing of His
baptism ; the second for His endurance of temptation in
the wilderness ; the third for the choosing and calling of
the disciples ; the fourth for His godly life. His clear
doctrine, and His miracles ; the fifth for the institution of
the sacraments, and especially for the blessing of the
Eucharist, and so on. The third they arrange as follows :

BROTHER FELIX FADRI. 637

the first for all the inward sufferings of Christ, His weep-
ings and agony on the Mount of Olives ; the second for
His capture and torment throughout the whole night ; the
third for His accusation, His being sent to Herod, His
scourging and coronation ; the fourth for His mocking, His
leading forth, His crucifixion, and all that Christ did upon
the cross while alive ; the fifth for His expiring, the pierc-
ing of His side, and His burial. They arrange the fourth
fifty as follows : they repeat the first Paternoster^ with its
ten Ave Marias, as a thanksgiving for the glory of His
resurrection ; the second for the splendour of His ascen-
sion ; the third for the gracious sending of the Holy Ghost;
the fourth in honour of the assumption of the blessed
Virgin ; the fifth for His power as Judge and His righteous
judgment. This prayer is devout and consoling when a
man hath become accustomed to it.

Moreover, to the end that he might put down those who
were jealous of the blessed Virgin Mary, and who denied
the merit of these prayers, the aforesaid Master James
appointed this whole matter of the rosary and the in-
dulgences to be the subject for a public disputation in the
University of Cologne, in quodlibetis, wherein it was proved
that this prayer was innocent and useful, and most accept-
able to the blessed Virgin. Let this suffice for my wander-
ings upon this subject.

THE PLACE WHERE ZACHARIAS SAID THE HYMN
* BENEDICTUS.'

After we had staid awhile in the aforesaid place, we
went up from the lower church by stone steps above a
vault, where once a fair chapel stood, and as we went up
we sang the hymn, * Benedictiis Domimis Dens Israel, qnial
etc., which hymn was composed by Zacharias when filled
with the Holy Spirit at the circumcision of the child, as is

638 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

told in the first chapter of St. Luke's Gospel. Singing
thus we came to the upper building, where was the
chamber wherein Zacharias sate speechless, and where he
asked for a tablet and wrote, ' His name is John.' There,
also, his mouth was straightway opened, and he prophesied,
saying and singing, 'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for,'
etc. So here we bowed ourselves to the earth in prayer,
and received indulgences (f). At last, after we had risen
from prayer, we betook ourselves to viewing the place, and
on the left-hand wall we saw a large windowless (?) church,
built for a barn. It was into this barn that Elizabeth
thrust her infant, St. John the Baptist, and hid him, when
the servants of Herod were running about that country
seeking for children to slay them. It is even believed that
they came into that very house to search for children, but
when they saw two old people, Zacharias and Elizabeth,
they did not suspect that there was any child with them,
and quickly departed, and the child John remained unhurt.
Howbeit, Albertus says in his commentary on Luke i. that
Zacharias was slain there by Herod's people because he
would not give up his son, as we shall see hereafter.

In this chapel there are broken altars and ruined vaults ;
on the v/alls are ancient paintings, and both at the upper
and the lower building shrubs and grasses grow upon the
vaults. Some pods of a blue colour, like beans, grow
there, and are found in no other place. Once there was
here a fine and stately church, and monks dwelt in cells
beside it ; but now, alas ! it has become the ruined home
of one most miserable Saracen.

THE PLACE WHEREIN JOHN WAS BORN INTO THIS

WORLD.

From this place we went on our way, and came out
back again to the aforesaid fountain. From the fount we

BROTHER FELIX FA BR I. 639

climbed up a steep place to a hill, and when we were on
the top of it, we came to a large church, where we sang in
a loud voice the hymn Ui qtieat laxis. This church is
built on the place where John the Baptist, the Forerunner
of the Lord, was born. Now, the actual birthplace of the
Forerunner is on the left hand in a chapel of the choir,
whose doorway is blocked up by the ruins of the walls. So
we climbed up over the wall, and one pilgrim placed him-
self beneath another, so that he might climb over him on
to the top of the wall, and get down on the other side upon
the head and neck of another pilgrim ; and so we all got
over the wall, and came into a dark chapel, wherein we
could see nothing without lights. At the head of the
chapel there is a grotto beneath a rock, wherein it is
believed that the most holy Baptist was born. So we
bowed ourselves down before this cave, kissed the place,
received plenary indulgences (fi*), and were not a little
consoled and gladdened, and in some sort strengthened in
the faith ; for by reason of the merits of the Forerunner
there breathes forth from that deserted cave a sweet and
wholesome odour, whereby the holy Forerunner kisses and
greets in his turn the land of his birth, kissed by pilgrims.
Indeed, had not God comforted us by this means, we
should have been not a little sorrowful in that place
because of the great desecration of so holy a place ; for the
church, albeit lofty and vaulted, and still painted, yet stood
full of cattle, asses, and camels, and there was nought therein
save dung and filth, and a great stench, inasmuch as from
being a holy church it has been turned into a stable for
beasts. Round about the church were the ruins of many
houses, wherein once dwelt clergy and servants of God ;
but now there is only one wretched farmhouse in the
place.

640 THE BOOK OF THE WANDERINGS OF

THE DESERT OF JOHN THE BAPTIST.

Beyond the valley is said to be the desert of John the
Baptist, wherein he dwelt while yet a boy, as is told in
Luke i. : ' And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit,
and was in the desert till the day of his showing unto
Israel.' Wherefore saith Jerome in his sermon, ' By the
words " Behold I send my messenger," we must under-
stand that messenger who, after leaving the refuge of
his mother's womb, sought out the secret parts of the
desert, and played with serpents there as a child.' This
occurs in the sermon against the heretic Luciferianus.
For in his fifth or seventh year he sought the desert, fleeing
from the corruption of the world, and lived the life of a
hermit for five-and-tvventy years ; wherefore it is sung of

him:

' While yet a child
Unto the desert wild
Thou fled'st, among its caves to pray and praise,
Leaving the throng
Of men, lest any wrong
Might mar the spotless tenor of thy days.

Indeed, according to Bernhard, reason urges, and justice
prompts, a man to offer his whole being unto Him from
whom he received it all ; and so to the end that he might
keep clean the hands wherewith he was to touch Christ,
the eyes wherewith he was to behold the Holy Ghost in
the likeness of a dove, and the ears with which he was to
hear the voice of God the Father, he left the world, entered
into the desert, and sought its caves.

The venerable Albertus Magnus, in his sermon on the
first chapter of St. Luke, on the verse, * The child . . . was
in the desert,' etc., speaks as follows : ' Bede saith that
John was in the desert ten years, and that he entered the
c'csert at the age of ten years, and left it when thirty years

BROTHER FELIX FABRI. 641

of age, as is clear from the third chapter of St. Luke.'
But the Gospel of the Nazarenes tells us that when Herod
was seeking for children to put them to death, John's
father, Zacharias, was slain because he would not give up
his son, but that his mother took her son from his aforesaid
hiding-place, and with difficulty fled into the desert. When
her pursuers were pressing her hard, so that she knew not
where to hide the child, a rock in a mountain was rent and
opened itself, and enclosed both herself and her child, so
that the eagerness of those who sought her was brought to
nought. Thereafter in a few years the mother died, and
the child still abode in the wilderness, and, after the fashion
of childhood, learned to eat locusts and wild honey which
he found in the desert, as doth the ant. It is said likewise
that the blood of his father, which was received into vases
by the priests and kept in the temple, would always boil
whenever anyone of the family of Herod appeared in the
temple. Thus far Albertus, Howbeit, St. John the
Baptist had two deserts, the first not far from his father's
house, wherein the caves in which he dwelt as a young
man are shown to this day ; the other beside the Jordan,
wherein he preached to the people and baptized them.
The former is spoken of in the first, and the latter in the
third chapter of St, Luke.

END OF VOL. I.

BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, CLILDrORD.

DS Palestine Pilgrims' Text

102 Society, London

P2 The library

1896

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